Thalmann, G. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2026

Iron Metabolism as a Therapeutic Vulnerability in Stem Cell-Like Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most common malignancy among men, with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) serving as the standard treatment due to the hormone sensitivity of prostate tumors. However, therapeutic resistance frequently develops, leading to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), an aggressive and lethal disease. A recently defined subtype, stem cell-like CRPC (CRPC-SCL), accounts for approximately 25% of CRPC cases and demonstrates poor responsiveness to ADT. CRPC-SCL is characterized by the expression of Cluster of Differentiation 44 (CD44), a glycoprotein that promotes hyaluronic acid binding and uptake. Within CRPC-SCL patient-derived xenograft (PDX) model, CD44 high (CD44hi) cells exhibit enhanced tumorigenicity and proliferative capacity. Importantly, iron metabolism emerges as a critical regulator of this population: CD44hi cells maintain elevated intracellular iron, which sustains CD44 expression and stem cell-like properties by modulating H3K9me2 modification. Leveraging this vulnerability, inhibition of the iron-regulatory factor NRF2 was shown to increase intracellular free iron and selectively induce ferroptosis in CD44hi cells. These findings highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting iron metabolism to induce ferroptosis as a novel treatment strategy for CRPC-SCL.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Minor intron splicing efficiency increases with the development of lethal prostate cancer

Here we explored the role of minor spliceosome (MiS) function and minor intron-containing gene (MIG) expression in prostate cancer (PCa). We show MIGs are enriched as direct interactors of cancer-causing genes and their expression discriminates PCa progression. Increased expression of MiS U6atac snRNA, including others, and 6x more efficient minor intron splicing was observed in castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) versus primary PCa. Notably, androgen receptor signalling influenced MiS activity. Inhibition of MiS through siU6atac in PCa caused minor intron mis-splicing and aberrant expression of MIG transcripts and encoded proteins, which enriched for MAPK activity, DNA repair and cell cycle. Single cell-RNAseq confirmed cell cycle defects and lineage dependency on the MiS from primary to CRPC and neuroendocrine PCa. siU6atac was [~]50% more efficient in lowering tumor burden of CRPC cells and organoids versus current state-of-the-art combination therapy. In all, MiS is a strong therapeutic target for lethal PCa and potentially other cancers. Graphical AbstractU6atac expression, MiS activity, and minor intron splicing correlate with PCa therapy resistance and PCa progression to CRPC-adeno and transdifferentiation to CRPC-NE. One major MiS regulator during that process is the AR-axis, which is re-activated during CRPC-adeno and blocked in CRPC-NE. Molecularly, an increase in MiS dependent splicing promotes changes of transcriptome and proteome. This results in cell cycle activation, increased MAPK signalling and increased DNA repair. U6atac mediated MiS inhibition renders MiS splicing error-prone through increased intron retention and alternative splicing events, which results in cell cycle block and decreased MAPK signalling and DNA repair. MiS inhibition blocks all stages of PCa. Figure created with BioRender.com. O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=154 SRC="FIGDIR/small/471104v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (61K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1c1c296org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1ce1416org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@88d842org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@2ddf96_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG

cancer biology↗