Epitranscriptomic mechanisms of androgen signalling and prostate cancer

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most common cancer diagnosed in men. While radical prostatectomy and radiotherapy are often successful in treating localised disease, post-treatment recurrence is common. As the androgen receptor (AR) and androgen hormones play an essential role in prostate carcinogenesis and progression, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is often used to deprive PCa cells of the pro-proliferative effect of androgens. ADTs act by either blocking androgen biosynthesis (e.g. abiraterone) or blocking AR function (e.g. bicalutamide, enzalutamide, apalutamide, darolutamide). ADT is often effective in initially suppressing PCa growth and progression, yet emergence of castrate-resistant PCa and progression to neuroendocrine-like PCa following ADT are major clinical challenges. For this reason, there is an urgent need to identify novel approaches to modulate androgen signalling to impede PCa progression whilst also preventing or delaying therapy resistance.

The mechanistic convergence of androgen and epitranscriptomic signalling offers a potential novel approach to treat PCa. The epitranscriptome involves covalent modifications of mRNA, notably, in the context of this review, the N(6)-methyladenosine (m⁶A) modification. m⁶A is involved in the regulation of mRNA splicing, stability, and translation, and has recently been shown to play a role in PCa and androgen signalling. The m⁶A modification is dynamically regulated by the METTL3-containing methyltransferase complex, and the FTO and ALKBH5 RNA demethylases.

Given the need for novel approaches to treat PCa, there is significant interest in new therapies that target m⁶A that modulate AR expression and androgen signalling. This review critically summarises the potential benefit of such epitranscriptomic therapies for PCa patients.