Poster abstracts

Poster number 29 submitted by Kavleen Sikand

Targeting androgen receptor by Andro-miRs in prostate cancer

Kavleen Sikand (Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH), Jinani E. Slaibi (Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH), Rajesh Singh (Cell and Tissue Imaging Core, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA), Stephen D. Slane (Department of Psychology, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH), Girish C. Shukla (Center for Gene Regulation in Health and Disease, Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, Cleveland State University, 2121 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH)

Abstract:
Androgen receptor (AR), a ligand-dependent transcription factor plays a key role in the development of both androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate cancer (PCa). The suppression of AR-mediated signaling is the main therapeutic approach for the treatment of PCa. Currently available AR-targeted therapies cannot completely shut down AR signaling as androgen-independent PCa cells utilize multiple alternative mechanisms to activate AR. Hence, there is a need to develop innovative strategies for targeting AR, which can produce a durable repression of AR activity. Recent studies suggest that microRNAs (miRNAs) can contribute to carcinogenesis by acting as tumor suppressors or oncogenes. Here, we show that miRNAs are involved in the regulation of AR expression and these miRNAs could be exploited for targeting AR in PCa. We have identified a set of “Andro-miRs”, which repress the AR protein expression in PCa cells. One of the miRNAs was found to inhibit the proliferation and enhance apoptosis of PCa cells. Our findings provide insight for utilizing miRNAs as novel therapeutics to target AR in PCa.

Keywords: Prostate cancer, microRNAs, Androgen receptor