BPTF regulstes androgen receptor activity by enhancing chromatin accessibility and stabilizing the AR-FOXA1 interaction

BPTF, the scaffolding subunit of the nucleosome remodeling factor (NURF) complex, has been implicated in the progression of various malignancies. However, its role in prostate cancer (PCa) remains poorly understood. Here, we demonstrate that BPTF is upregulated in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and promotes disease progression. RNA-seq revealed that BPTF primarily upregulates the expression of androgen receptor (AR) target genes. ChIP-seq showed that BPTF facilitates AR binding to enhancers and super-enhancers, while ATAC-seq demonstrated that BPTF increases chromatin accessibility to facilitate AR binding, partly via SMARCA1, a catalytic subunit of the NURF complex. Notably, BPTF/AR shared ChIP-seq peaks are highly enriched for FOXA1 motifs but only weakly enriched for AR motifs. We find that BPTF interacts with both FOXA1 and AR to form a protein complex in which FOXA1 recruits BPTF-AR to chromatin, while BPTF stabilizes the AR–FOXA1 interaction. Importantly, BPTF interacts with AR through its bromodomain, and a BPTF bromodomain inhibitor disrupts this interaction, leading to impaired AR signaling and suppressed PCa cell growth. In summary, our findings establish BPTF as a critical regulator of AR activity by promoting chromatin accessibility and stabilizing the AR–FOXA1 complex, highlighting BPTF as a potential therapeutic target in prostate cancer.