ZFHX3 modulates the androgen/AR signaling activity in prostate cancer cells

The androgen/androgen receptor (AR) signaling drives prostate development and prostatic carcinogenesis, whereas loss of the zinc finger homeobox 3 (ZFHX3) transcription factor attenuates prostate development and promotes prostatic tumorigenesis. The androgen/AR signaling upregulates the transcription of ZFHX3 in prostate cancer cells. However, whether and how ZFHX3 is involved in the function of AR signaling in prostate cancer cells is unknown. In this study, we first carried out RNA-seq analysis in C4-2B prostate cancer cells to detect what genes and signaling pathways are caused by the deletion of ZFHX3. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) revealed that among the top altered hallmark gene sets after ZFHX3 deletion, only the one for androgen response was decreased, whereas those for TNFα, interferon γ, and inflammatory response were enriched. For the 27 genes indicative AR activities, as defined in a previous study, expression levels for 18 of the 27 genes were significantly changed by ZFHX3 loss. Fifteen of these 18 genes were downregulated, including classical AR target genes KLK3, FKBP5, and TMPRSS2.