GATA2 facilitates steroid receptor coactivator recruitment to the androgen receptor complex.

The androgen receptor (AR) is a key driver of prostate cancer (PC), even in the state of castration-resistant PC (CRPC) and frequently even after treatment with second-line hormonal therapies such as abiraterone and enzalutamide. The persistence of AR activity via both ligand-dependent and ligand-independent mechanisms (including constitutively active AR splice variants) highlights the unmet need for alternative approaches to block AR signaling in CRPC. We investigated the transcription factor GATA-binding protein 2 (GATA2) as a regulator of AR signaling and an actionable therapeutic target in PC. We demonstrate that GATA2 directly promotes expression of both full-length and splice-variant AR, resulting in a strong positive correlation between GATA2 and AR expression in both PC cell lines and patient specimens. Conversely, GATA2 expression is repressed by androgen and AR, suggesting a negative feedback regulatory loop that, upon androgen deprivation, derepresses GATA2 to contribute to AR overexpression in CRPC. Simultaneously, GATA2 is necessary for optimal transcriptional activity of both full-length and splice-variant AR. GATA2 colocalizes with AR and Forkhead box protein A1 on chromatin to enhance recruitment of steroid receptor coactivators and formation of the transcriptional holocomplex. In agreement with these important functions, high GATA2 expression and transcriptional activity predicted worse clinical outcome in PC patients. A GATA2 small molecule inhibitor suppressed the expression and transcriptional function of both full-length and splice-variant AR and exerted potent anticancer activity against PC cell lines. We propose pharmacological inhibition of GATA2 as a first-in-field approach to target AR expression and function and improve outcomes in CRPC.

Clinical appraisal of abiraterone in the treatment of metastatic prostatic cancer: patient considerations, novel opportunities, and future directions.

While androgen-deprivation therapy can induce dramatic clinical responses in advanced and metastatic prostate cancer, refractory disease (castration-resistant prostate cancer [CRPC]) eventually emerges. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the importance of residual intratumoral androgens in maintaining androgen receptor (AR) transcriptional activity in CRPC. The cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP17 is an obligatory step in androgen synthesis, and therefore a critical therapeutic target in CRPC. Abiraterone acetate is a selective, irreversible inhibitor of CYP17 and can suppress adrenal synthesis of androgen precursors, and possibly in situ steroidogenesis in the tumor microenvironment. In a phase III multicenter study, abiraterone in combination with prednisone improved median overall survival of men with docetaxel-refractory CRPC by 3.9 months compared to placebo plus prednisone, and also resulted in higher objective prostate-specific antigen and radiographic response rates. The study led to the FDA approval in April 2011 of abiraterone for treatment of chemotherapy-refractory CRPC patients, validating steroidogenesis and the AR axis in general as therapeutic targets in CRPC. The FDA indication for abiraterone was expanded to all CRPCs in December 2012, while evaluation in even earlier disease states is ongoing. We propose a comprehensive AR axis-targeting approach via simultaneous, frontline enzymatic blockade of several steroidogenic enzymes (eg, CYP17 and AKR1C3) in combination with gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs and potent, second-generation AR antagonists (eg, enzalutamide) in order to improve outcomes in patients with prostate cancer.