title: Androgen receptor (AR) positive vs negative roles in prostate cancer cell deaths including apoptosis, anoikis, entosis, necrosis and autophagic cell death.
abstract: Androgen/androgen receptor (AR) signaling plays pivotal roles in the prostate development and homeostasis as well as in the progression of prostate cancer (PCa). Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) with anti-androgens remains as the main treatment for later stage PCa, and it has been shown to effectively suppress PCa growth during the first 12-24 months. However, ADT eventually fails and tumors may re-grow and progress into the castration resistant stage. Recent reports revealed that AR might play complicated and even opposite roles in PCa progression that might depend on cell types and tumor stages. Importantly, AR may influence PCa progression via differential modulation of various cell deaths including apoptosis, anoikis, entosis, necrosis, and autophagic cell deaths. Targeting AR may induce PCa cell apoptosis, autophagic cell deaths and programmed necrosis, yet targeting AR may suppress cell deaths via anoikis and entosis that may potentially lead to increased metastasis. These differential functions of AR in various types of PCa cell death might challenge the current ADT with anti-androgens treatment. Further detailed dissection of molecular mechanisms by which AR modulates different PCa cell deaths will help us to develop a better therapy to battle PCa.
authors.affiliation: Chawnshang Chang Sex Hormone Research Center, Tianjin Institute of Urology, Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin 300211, China; George Whipple Lab for Cancer Research, Departments of Pathology and Urology, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY 14642, USA.
authors.forename: Simeng
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wen
authors.forename: Yuanjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Soo Ok
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Chawnshang
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016923:Cell Death; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D011944:Receptors, Androgen / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D018931:Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal; D011944:Receptors, Androgen
keywords: Androgen receptor; Anoikis; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Cell death; Entosis; Necrosis; Prostate cancer