Androgen Signaling: Promising Target for Prospective Cancer Therapy (original) (raw)

2019, Journal of Drug Design and Development

Androgen is a steroid hormone that triggers or controls the development and maintenance of male sexual characteristics through their association with nuclear transcription factor known as Androgen Receptor (AR). AR signaling cascade mechanism plays a critical role in the growth and development of male and female reproductive organs, but the latter to a lesser extent. During recent years, abnormal amplification of androgen gene and dysfunction of AR gene expression have been shown to be associated with wide range of malignancies in humans including prostate cancer, bladder cancer, esophageal cancer, neuroblastomas and also certain types of breast cancers in females. Therapies including administration of antiandrogens, deprivation or ablation of androgens, use of androgen receptor antagonist and androgen synthesis inhibitors have been successfully implemented in the treatment of androgen-dependent conditions in both males and females. However, the treatment failure associated with these therapies due to robust acquired resistance development by malignant cells has led to increased mortality, especially in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (CRPC) patients. This mini review article summarizes different androgen related pathologies and list molecules that have been proved to be effective in treating androgen associated malignancies. Further, this article also identifies the benefits and discusses the challenges and opportunities of discovering new drugs targeting androgen and AR regulated mechanisms in cancers therapeutics.

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