Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is an aggressive epithelial malignancy with poor prognosis. Interestingly, ESCC is strongly characterized by a male-predominant propensity. Our previous study showed that androgen receptor (AR) orchestrated a transcriptional repression program to promote ESCC growth, but it remains unclear whether AR can also activate oncogenic signaling during ESCC progression. In this study, by analyzing our previous AR cistromes and androgen-regulated transcriptomes, we identified uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase family 2 member B15 (UGT2B15) as a bona fide target gene of AR. Mechanistically, AP-1 cofactors played important and collaborative roles in AR-mediated UGT2B15 upregulation. Functional studies have revealed that UGT2B15 promoted invasiveness in vitro and lymph node metastasis in vivo. UGT2B15 was partially responsible for the AR-induced invasive phenotype in ESCC cells. Importantly, simultaneous blocking of AP-1 and AR resulted in stronger inhibition of cell invasiveness compared to inhibiting AP-1 or AR alone. In conclusion, our study reveals the molecular mechanisms underlying the AR-driven ESCC invasion and suggests that the AR/AP1/UGT2B15 transcriptional axis can be potentially targeted in suppressing metastasis in male ESCC patients.
Keywords: AP-1; UGT2B15; androgen receptor; esophageal squamous cell carcinoma; invasion; metastasis.