TCF4 induces enzalutamide resistance via neuroendocrine differentiation in prostate cancer.

In treating patients with castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), enzalutamide, the second-generation androgen receptor (AR) antagonist, is an accepted standard of care. However, clinical benefits are limited to a median time of 4. 8 months because resistance inevitably emerges. To determine the mechanism of treatment resistance, we carried out a RNA sequence analysis and found increased expression levels of neuroendocrine markers in the enzalutamide-resistant LNCaP human prostate cancer (CaP) cell line when compared to the parental cell line. Subsequent studies demonstrated that Transcription Factor-4 (TCF4), a transcription factor implicated in WNT signaling, mediated neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) in response to enzalutamide treatment and was elevated in the enzalutamide-resistant LNCaP. In addition, we observed that PTHrP mediated enzalutamide resistance in tissue culture and inducible TCF4 overexpression resulted in enzalutamide-resistance in a mouse xenograft model. Finally, small molecule inhibitors of TCF4 or PTHrP partially reversed enzalutamide resistance in CaP cells. When tissues obtained from men who died of metastatic CaP were examined, a positive correlation was found between the expression levels of TCF4 and PTHrP. Taken together, the current results indicate that TCF4 induces enzalutamide resistance via NED in CaP.

PloS one. 2019 Sep 19*** epublish ***

Geun Taek Lee, Jeffrey A Rosenfeld, Won Tae Kim, Young Suk Kwon, Ganesh Palapattu, Rohit Mehra, Wun-Jae Kim, Isaac Yi Kim

Section of Urologic Oncology, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and Division of Urology, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, United States of America., Department of Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States of America., Department of Urology, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju, Korea.