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Racial Differences in Androgen Receptor (AR) and AR Splice Variants (AR-SVs) Expression in Treatment-Naïve Androgen-Dependent Prostate Cancer
- Source :
- Biomedicines, Vol 11, Iss 3, p 648 (2023)
- Publication Year :
- 2023
- Publisher :
- MDPI AG, 2023.
-
Abstract
- Androgen receptor splice variants (AR-SVs) contribute to the aggressive growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). AR-SVs, including AR-V7, are expressed in ~30% of CRPC, but minimally in treatment-naïve primary prostate cancer (PCa). Compared to Caucasian American (CA) men, African American (AA) men are more likely to be diagnosed with aggressive/potentially lethal PCa and have shorter disease-free survival. Expression of a truncated AR in an aggressively growing patient-derived xenograft developed with a primary PCa specimen from an AA patient led us to hypothesize that the expression of AR-SVs could be an indicator of aggressive growth both in PCa progression and at the CRPC stage in AA men. Tissue microarrays (TMAs) were created from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) prostatectomy tumor blocks from 118 AA and 115 CA treatment-naïve PCa patients. TMAs were stained with AR-V7-speicifc antibody and with antibodies binding to the N-terminus domain (NTD) and ligand-binding domain (LBD) of the AR. Since over 20 AR-SVs have been identified, and most AR-SVs do not as yet have a specific antibody, we considered a 2.0-fold or greater difference in the NTD vs. LBD staining as indication of potential AR-SV expression. Two AA, but no CA, patient tumors stained positively for AR-V7. AR staining with NTD and LBD antibodies was robust in most patients, with 21% of patients staining at least 2-fold more for NTD than LBD, indicating that AR-SVs other than AR-V7 are expressed in primary treatment-naïve PCa. About 24% of the patients were AR-negative, and race differences in AR expression were not statistically significant. These results indicate that AR-SVs are not restricted to CRPC, but also are expressed in primary PCa at higher rate than previously reported. Future investigation of the relative expression of NTD vs. LBD AR-SVs could guide the use of newly developed treatments targeting the NTD earlier in the treatment paradigm.
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 22279059
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Directory of Open Access Journals
- Journal :
- Biomedicines
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- edsdoj.6bcc6af54d354d46beb55bb163520772
- Document Type :
- article
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11030648