Endocrine Abstracts

The first crystal structure of human androgen receptor (AR) homodimer will be presented. This structure allows for the structure-based rationalization of the largest number of disease-associated mutations described for the AR ligand binding domain (LBD), which have been involved in prostate cancer and androgen insensitivity syndromes. The conservation of essential residues involved in AR self-association in other oxosteroid receptors suggests a more common dimerization mechani...

Transcriptional activity of androgen receptor (AR) is governed by androgenic ligands and (thought to be) fine-tuned by post-translational modifications, such as SUMOylation. We have utilized genome-wide tools to study in an unbiased fashion the role of SUMOylation in the regulation of AR-directed gene programs in prostate cancer cells. Our results show that the SUMOylation does not simply repress the AR activity, but the modification modulates the receptor activity in a target...