Abstract 4677: Control of androgen receptor function by the genomic action of the cochaperone Bag-1L

Abstract

Abstract The androgen receptor (AR) is an important determinant of normal and malignant prostate growth and its function is regulated by many factors, including molecular chaperones, cochaperones and coregulators. One such factor is the nuclear-resident cochaperone Bag-1L. Overexpression of Bag-1L and the amplification of its gene have been reported in the hormone-refractory and metastatic stages of prostate cancer and in androgen-independent prostate cancer cells. However the exact mechanism of Bag-1L-mediated regulation of AR action in prostate cancer remains unclear. Here we show that Bag-1L and AR directly interact with one another through two distinct domains in both proteins. While the N-terminus of Bag-1L binds to the AR BF-3 domain via a conserved GARRPR motif, the C-terminal Hsp70/Hsc70-binding domain (BAG) of Bag-1L binds to the tau5 region in the intrinsically disordered AR AF1. The latter interaction is of particular significance as tau5 is a region crucial for the ligand-independent transcriptional activity of the receptor. Understanding the details of this interaction will therefore provide new opportunities of controlling AR action for therapeutic purposes outside of targeting the LBD. We have identified the exact amino acids (K231, K232 and K279) in the BAG domain that are required for the interaction with AR. Amino acid substitution of these residues destroy the interaction of Bag-1L and AR but do not affect the binding to Hsp70/Hsc70. We also observed significant reduction in androgen-dependent cell growth when the BAG-domain mutant is overexpressed in prostate cancer cells in culture and in xenograft mouse models. We further tested the consequence of the BAG-domain mutation on AR transactivation by microarray analysis. We observed repressed expression of multiple genes, including the AR coactivator NCoA2. Correspondingly, we observed multiple changes in the Bag-1L interactome when comparing the wild-type with the BAG mutant; this includes the loss of interaction with the heat shock protein Hsp27 for the mutant Bag-1L protein. Combined these results demonstrate the importance of Bag-1L for AR function and the potential of this protein for therapeutic intervention in prostate cancer. Citation Format: Laura Cato, Antje Neeb, Guillaume Adelmant, Scott Ficarro, Thomas Westerling, Jarrod A. Marto, Andrew C. Cato, Myles Brown. Control of androgen receptor function by the genomic action of the cochaperone Bag-1L. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 4677. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-4677