Targeting pre-existing club-like cells in prostate cancer potentiates androgen deprivation therapyUniversité de Strasbourg, CNRS, Inserm, IGBMC UMR 7104 - UMR-S 1258, Illkirch, France.
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1151, CNRS UMR8253, Institut Necker Enfants Malades, IMMEDIAB, Paris, France; Clinique Saint Gatien Alliance (NCT+), Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire, France.
Clinical Institute of Pathology, Department for Experimental and Laboratory Animal Pathology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Unit of Laboratory Animal Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Department of Applied Computational Cancer Research, Institute for AI in Medicine (IKIM), University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany; University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1151, CNRS UMR8253, Institut Necker Enfants Malades, PRL/GH Pathophysiology, Paris, France; Université Paris-Cité, Department of Urology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France.
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1151, CNRS UMR8253, Institut Necker Enfants Malades, PRL/GH Pathophysiology, Paris, France; ARCHE Core Facility, Biosit UAR 3480 US_S 018, CNRS, Inserm, Université de Rennes, Rennes, France.
Laboratory for Molecular Cancer Biology, VIB Center for Cancer Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Oncology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Inserm, IGBMC UMR 7104 - UMR-S 1258, Illkirch, France.
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Inserm, IGBMC UMR 7104 - UMR-S 1258, Illkirch, France.
Department of Applied Computational Cancer Research, Institute for AI in Medicine (IKIM), University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany; University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany.
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1151, CNRS UMR8253, Institut Necker Enfants Malades, PRL/GH Pathophysiology, Paris, France.
Université Paris Cité, INSERM U1151, CNRS UMR8253, Institut Necker Enfants Malades, PRL/GH Pathophysiology, Paris, France.
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2026 (English)In: EMBO Molecular Medicine, ISSN 1757-4676, E-ISSN 1757-4684
Article in journal (Refereed) Epub ahead of print
Abstract [en]
A critical knowledge gap in prostate cancer research is understanding whether castration-tolerant progenitor-like cells that reside in treatment-naïve tumors play a direct role in therapy resistance and tumor progression. Herein, we reveal that the castration tolerance of LSCmed (Lin-, Sca-1+, CD49fmed) progenitor cells, the mouse equivalent of human prostatic Club cells, arises not from intrinsic properties, but from significant transcriptional reprogramming. Utilizing single-cell RNA sequencing of LSCmed cells isolated from prostate-specific Pten-deficient (Ptenpc−/−) mice, we identify the emergence of castration-resistant LSCmed cells enriched in stem-like features, driven by the transcription factor FOSL1/AP-1. We demonstrate that cells exhibiting Ptenpc−/− LSCmed characteristics are prevalent in aggressive double-negative prostate cancer (DNPC) subtypes recently identified in human castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Furthermore, our findings show that the dual-targeting agents JQ-1 and CX-6258—focused on FOSL1/AP-1 and PIM kinases, respectively—effectively suppress both the progenitor properties and the growth of mouse and human DNPC surrogates in vitro and in vivo. Thus, early eradication of castration-tolerant Club-like cells presents a promising therapeutic strategy to mitigate prostate cancer progression toward CRPC.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer Nature, 2026.
Keywords [en]
Castration-Resistance, Club Cells, DNPC, FOSL1, LSCmed Cells
National Category
Cell and Molecular Biology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-249841DOI: 10.1038/s44321-026-00375-yISI: 001677073200001PubMedID: 41629661Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105029260268OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-249841DiVA, id: diva2:2041912
2026-02-262026-02-262026-02-26