Cell Reports (Jun 2017)

Androgen Receptor Deregulation Drives Bromodomain-Mediated Chromatin Alterations in Prostate Cancer

  • Alfonso Urbanucci,
  • Stefan J. Barfeld,
  • Ville Kytölä,
  • Harri M. Itkonen,
  • Ilsa M. Coleman,
  • Daniel Vodák,
  • Liisa Sjöblom,
  • Xia Sheng,
  • Teemu Tolonen,
  • Sarah Minner,
  • Christoph Burdelski,
  • Kati K. Kivinummi,
  • Annika Kohvakka,
  • Steven Kregel,
  • Mandeep Takhar,
  • Mohammed Alshalalfa,
  • Elai Davicioni,
  • Nicholas Erho,
  • Paul Lloyd,
  • R. Jeffrey Karnes,
  • Ashley E. Ross,
  • Edward M. Schaeffer,
  • Donald J. Vander Griend,
  • Stefan Knapp,
  • Eva Corey,
  • Felix Y. Feng,
  • Peter S. Nelson,
  • Fahri Saatcioglu,
  • Karen E. Knudsen,
  • Teuvo L.J. Tammela,
  • Guido Sauter,
  • Thorsten Schlomm,
  • Matti Nykter,
  • Tapio Visakorpi,
  • Ian G. Mills

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2017.05.049
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 19, no. 10
pp. 2045 – 2059

Abstract

Read online

Global changes in chromatin accessibility may drive cancer progression by reprogramming transcription factor (TF) binding. In addition, histone acetylation readers such as bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) have been shown to associate with these TFs and contribute to aggressive cancers including prostate cancer (PC). Here, we show that chromatin accessibility defines castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). We show that the deregulation of androgen receptor (AR) expression is a driver of chromatin relaxation and that AR/androgen-regulated bromodomain-containing proteins (BRDs) mediate this effect. We also report that BRDs are overexpressed in CRPCs and that ATAD2 and BRD2 have prognostic value. Finally, we developed gene stratification signature (BROMO-10) for bromodomain response and PC prognostication, to inform current and future trials with drugs targeting these processes. Our findings provide a compelling rational for combination therapy targeting bromodomains in selected patients in which BRD-mediated TF binding is enhanced or modified as cancer progresses.

Keywords