- Maranto, Cristina;
- Sabharwal, Lavannya;
- Udhane, Vindhya;
- Pitzen, Samuel;
- McCluskey, Braedan;
- Qi, Songyan;
- OConnor, Christine;
- Devi, Savita;
- Johnson, Scott;
- Jacobsohn, Kenneth;
- Banerjee, Anjishnu;
- Iczkowski, Kenneth;
- Wang, Liang;
- Dehm, Scott;
- Nevalainen, Marja
Androgen receptor (AR) drives prostate cancer (PC) growth and progression, and targeting AR signaling is the mainstay of pharmacological therapies for PC. Resistance develops relatively fast as a result of refueled AR activity. A major gap in the field is the lack of understanding of targetable mechanisms that induce persistent AR expression in castrate-resistant PC (CRPC). This study uncovers an unexpected function of active Stat5 signaling, a known promoter of PC growth and clinical progression, as a potent inducer of AR gene transcription. Stat5 suppression inhibited AR gene transcription in preclinical PC models and reduced the levels of wild-type, mutated, and truncated AR proteins. Pharmacological Stat5 inhibition by a specific small-molecule Stat5 inhibitor down-regulated Stat5-inducible genes as well as AR and AR-regulated genes and suppressed PC growth. This work introduces the concept of Stat5 as an inducer of AR gene transcription in PC. Pharmacological Stat5 inhibitors may represent a new strategy for suppressing AR and CRPC growth.