Registered report: the androgen receptor induces a distinct transcriptional program in castration-resistant prostate...

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Molecular Biology
• Genetics

Background:

• Reproducibility is a growing concern in scientific research.
• The Prostate Cancer Foundation-Movember Foundation Reproducibility Initiative (PCFMFRI) aims to address this by replicating key studies.
• This Registered Report details a replication of experiments from Sharma et al. (2013) concerning androgen receptor (AR) targets in prostate cancer.

Purpose of the Study:

• To replicate key experiments from Sharma et al. (2013) on AR transcriptional programs in castration-resistant prostate cancer.
• To investigate the effect of cellular context on AR binding sites and downstream transcriptional regulation.
• To compare gene expression of 16 core AR target genes in xenograft tumor tissue versus in vitro cell cultures.

Main Methods:

• Replication of Fig. 7C from Sharma et al. (2013).
• Comparison of gene expression for 16 core AR target genes.
• Analysis of gene expression in xenograft tumor tissue versus androgen-treated LNCaP cells in vitro.

Main Results:

• The study aims to replicate the identification of 16 core AR target genes.
• It will assess whether these genes are consistently downregulated with castration and re-emerge with castration resistance.
• Differences in gene expression between in vivo (xenograft) and in vitro (LNCaP cells) models will be evaluated.

Conclusions:

• The findings will contribute to understanding the reproducibility of AR transcriptional regulation in prostate cancer.
• This replication will shed light on the impact of cellular context on AR binding and gene expression.
• The results will be published by PeerJ as part of the PCFMFRI collaboration.