Drug-Induced Epigenomic Plasticity Reprograms Circadian Rhythm Regulation to Drive Prostate Cancer toward Androgen Independence

Simon Linder, Marlous Hoogstraat, Suzan Stelloo, Nils Eickhoff, Karianne Schuurman, Hilda de Barros, Maartje Alkemade, Elise M. Bekers, Tesa M. Severson, Joyce Sanders, Chia Chi Flora Huang, Tunc Morova, Umut Berkay Altintas, Liesbeth Hoekman, Yongsoo Kim, Sylvan C. Baca, Martin Sjöström, Anniek Zaalberg, Dorine C. Hintzen, Jeroen de JongRoelof J.C. Kluin, Iris de Rink, Claudia Giambartolomei, Ji Heui Seo, Bogdan Pasaniuc, Maarten Altelaar, René H. Medema, Felix Y. Feng, Amina Zoubeidi, Matthew L. Freedman, Lodewyk F.A. Wessels, Lisa M. Butler, Nathan A. Lack, Henk van der Poel*, Andries M. Bergman, Wilbert Zwart

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

In prostate cancer, androgen receptor (AR)–targeting agents are very effective in various disease stages. However, therapy resistance inevitably occurs, and little is known about how tumor cells adapt to bypass AR suppression. Here, we performed integrative multiomics analyses on tissues isolated before and after 3 months of AR-targeting enzalutamide monotherapy from patients with high-risk prostate cancer enrolled in a neoadjuvant clinical trial. Transcriptomic analyses demonstrated that AR inhibition drove tumors toward a neuroendocrine-like disease state. Additionally, epigenomic profiling revealed massive enzalutamide-induced reprogramming of pioneer factor FOXA1 from inactive chromatin sites toward active cis-regulatory elements that dictate prosur-vival signals. Notably, treatment-induced FOXA1 sites were enriched for the circadian clock component ARNTL. Posttreatment ARNTL levels were associated with patients’ clinical outcomes, and ARNTL knockout strongly decreased prostate cancer cell growth. Our data highlight a remarkable cistromic plasticity of FOXA1 following AR-targeted therapy and revealed an acquired dependency on the circadian regulator ARNTL, a novel candidate therapeutic target. SIGNIFICANCE: Understanding how prostate cancers adapt to AR-targeted interventions is critical for identifying novel drug targets to improve the clinical management of treatment-resistant disease. Our study revealed an enzalutamide-induced epigenomic plasticity toward prosurvival signaling and uncovered the circadian regulator ARNTL as an acquired vulnerability after AR inhibition, presenting a novel lead for therapeutic development.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2074-2097
Number of pages24
JournalCancer Discovery
Volume12
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2022

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