Drugging the intrinsically disordered transactivation domain of androgen receptor [LNCaP]

Androgen receptor (AR) is a therapuetic target for prostate cancer. Despite therapuetic approaches against its ligand-binding domain (LBD), resistance ultimately develops by mechanisms which result in reactivaton of AR signaling. These mechanisms include expression of constitutively active AR that lacks LBD and fueled the discovery of inhibitors to AR's N-terminal intrinsically disordered transactivation domain (TAD). AR-TAD inhibitors are unique as there is a paucity of small molecule inhibitors that bind directly to intriniscally disordered TADs. Here we reveal gene- and cell specific sensitivities in human prostate cancer cells and xenografts to small molecule inhibitors to AR-TAD. These inhibitors have unique biological functions compared to an AR-LBD inhibitor, including being more efficacious in vivo in a non-castrate setting of androgen-sensitive prostate cancer. These data support a new therapuetic approach for prostate cancer and more broadly reveal the sensitivity of an IDR TAD to small molecule inhibitors on gene expression and cellular pathways.