Assessment of STAT5 as a potential therapy target in enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer

PLoS One. 2020 Aug 13;15(8):e0237248. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237248. eCollection 2020.

Abstract

Despite enzalutamide's efficacy in delaying the progression of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), resistance to this anti-androgen inevitably occurs. Several studies have revealed that the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 5 plays a role in tumour progression and development of drug resistance such as enzalutamide. Data mining revealed heterogeneous expression of STAT5 in enzalutamide-treated mCRPC patients and enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer (PCa). Isobologram analysis revealed that the STAT5 inhibitor pimozide combined with enzalutamide has? additive and synergistic inhibitory effects on cell viability in the used models. Functional analysis with siRNA-mediated STAT5 knockdown yielded divergent results. The LNCaP-derived cell line MR49F could be resensitised to enzalutamide by siRNA-mediated STAT5b-knock-down. In contrast, neither STAT5a nor STAT5b knockdown resensitised enzalutamide-resistant LAPC4-EnzaR cells to enzalutamide. In conclusion, our results indicate that STAT5 may be a possible target in a subgroup of enzalutamide-resistant PCa. However, based on the data presented here, a general role of STAT5 in enzalutamide-resistance and its potential as a therapeutic target could not be shown.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology*
  • Benzamides
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Drug Resistance, Neoplasm*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / drug effects
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Nitriles
  • Phenylthiohydantoin / analogs & derivatives*
  • Phenylthiohydantoin / pharmacology
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Prostatic Neoplasms / genetics
  • STAT5 Transcription Factor / genetics*
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins / genetics*

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents
  • Benzamides
  • Nitriles
  • STAT5 Transcription Factor
  • STAT5A protein, human
  • STAT5B protein, human
  • Tumor Suppressor Proteins
  • Phenylthiohydantoin
  • enzalutamide

Grants and funding

This study was funded by Astellas Pharma. CT and ZC have received the research grant DE72-RG36. This study was also supported by the Open Access Funding by the Publication Fund of the TU Dresden. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.