Abstract 3891: Epigenetic rewiring promotes antiandrogen resistance and metastasis via heterogenous oncogenic drivers in prostate cancer
Authors: li Xiaong , Deng Su , Gonzalez Julisa , Tirado Carla Rodriguez , Wang Choushi , Johnson Nickolas A. , Metang Lauren , Mu Ping 
Published: April 2023

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most diagnosed cancer among American men, which has traditionally been treated through hormone therapy. However, after hormone therapy many patients with PCa still develop a more aggressive stage of PCa, called metastasis castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). The second- generation antiandrogens, such as enzalutamide or apalutamide, are used to competitively inhibit the androgen receptor (AR) signaling and achieved great clinical success. However, most of the mCRPC patients would develop resistance to the targeted therapy drugs within 6 months to 2 years after initial administration. Consequently, understanding the molecular mechanism of antiandrogen resistance, has become a critical endeavor to provide a greater benefit to patients. mCRPC is characterized by extensive heterogeneity of genomic copy number alterations, which may lead to antiandrogen resistance. TP53 and RB1 alterations have been reported to be dramatically enriched in mCRPC neuroendocrine cancer and we have previously found that inactivation of both TP53 and RB1 confers resistance to antiandrogen through lineage plasticity, where cancer cells can transdifferentiate from a luminal lineage to a mixture of basal and neuroendocrine lineages, which is no longer dependent on AR signaling. Despite these exciting discoveries, only 10% of patients have TP53 and RB1 loss and it is estimated that approximately 40% of patients develop antiandrogen resistance through an undiscovered mechanism.To identify more genomic alterations which confer antiandrogen resistance, we performed an in vivo library screening and identified some of the frequently depleted genes as top candidates mediating antiandrogen response, including the chromatin helicase DNA-binding factor (CHD1). Strikingly, the loss of CHD1 establishes an altered chromatin landscape and enables the activation of heterogenous resistant subclones to emerge, including clones with ectopic NR3C1/GR, POU3F2/BRN2, TBX2, and NR2F1. This work provided an innovative model to explain the dramatically increased tumor heterogeneity in therapy resistant prostate cancer and suggested potential druggable targets to overcome resistance. Building on those exciting results, we are now examining the underlying mechanism how the epigenetic rewiring in resistant tumor clones confer resistance and monitoring the evolution of those heterogenous resistant subclones. Furthermore, we are revealing the collaborative function of those four resistant driver genes in promoting metastasis to various distal organs through multidisplinary approaches including single cell transcriptomics and 3D organoid modeling. The completion of this study will not only add clarity to the mechanism of antiandrogen resistance but may also lead to the development of novel biomarker and therapeutic approaches to overcome resistance.

Citation Format: Xiaong li, Su Deng, Julisa Gonzalez, Carla Rodriguez Tirado, Choushi Wang, Nickolas A. Johnson, Lauren Metang, Ping Mu. Epigenetic rewiring promotes antiandrogen resistance and metastasis via heterogenous oncogenic drivers in prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 3891.