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Differential expression of the androgen receptor gene is correlated with CAG polymorphic repeats in patients with prostate cancer

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Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common types of cancer in men. The aetiology of the disease is not well established, but it has been related to one of the main pathways of regulation of prostate proliferation, mediated by androgens. The androgen receptor (AR) gene encodes the androgen-receptor protein, which functions as a transactivation factor for steroid hormones. It has been proposed that the AR gene transcription levels are mediated by short tandem repeats corresponding to the CAG sequence. However, there are conflicting results in this relationship. We evaluated the expression levels of the AR gene and identified the number of CAG repeats (CAGn) in the Mexican population, establishing the relationship between expression levels and increase in the number of CAG repeats. We evaluated the expression levels of AR in tissue samples of PCa and benign prostate disease, such as benign prostatic hyperplasia, or prostatitis, to determine the difference in their expression levels. Our results showed a statistically insignificant underexpression of 0.64-fold decrease in AR levels of PCa patients compared to benign prostate disease patients (P = 0.623) and suggest that the number of CAGn was correlated with the relative expression of the AR gene (P = 0.009) and this correlation was positive, moderate, and proportional (ρ = 0.467) and no correlation was found between CAGn with other clinical features.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa and the Universidad Politécnica de Sinaloa. We thank Fernando Coronado Nieves and Yolanda Galvez Vazquez for their help during the collection of samples, as well as Andrea Ross Orozco, for her help during the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Posgrado en Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Calz de las Americas Nte 2771, Cd Universitaria, Burócrata, 80030, Culiacán Rosales, Sinaloa, México

    Martín Irigoyen Arredondo & José Romero Quintana

  2. Lic. en Ciencias Biomédicas, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Av del Mar 1200, Tellería, 82100, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México

    Martín Irigoyen Arredondo, Fernando Bergez Hernández & Alejandra Martínez Camberos

  3. Laboratorio de Genética y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Químico Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Calz de las Americas Nte 2771, Cd Universitaria, Burócrata, 80030, Culiacán Rosales, Sinaloa, México

    Eliakym Arámbula Meraz & Dora Cedano Prieto

  4. Laboratorio de Ciencias Básicas, Facultad de Odontología, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, C. Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez s/n, Cd Universitaria, Universitaria, 80013, Culiacán Rosales, Sinaloa, México

    Fred Luque Ortega

  5. Álvarez & Arrazola Radiólogos, Avenida Insurgentes, 1390, Lopez Mateos, 82140, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México

    Marco Álvarez Arrazola

  6. Centro de Investigación y Docencia en Ciencias de la Salud, Hospital Civil de Culiacán, Universidad Autónoma de Sinaloa, Prol. Álvaro Obregón 1422, Tierra Blanca, 80030, Culiacán Rosales, Sinaloa, México

    José Contreras Gutiérrez

  7. Laboratorio de Biomedicina y Biología Molecular, Ingeniería en Biotecnología, Universidad Politécnica de Sinaloa, Carretera Municipal Libre Mazatlán-Higueras km 3, col. Genaro Estrada, 82199, Mazatlán, Sinaloa, México

    Enrique Romo Martínez & Noemi García Magallanes

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  1. Martín Irigoyen Arredondo
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  2. José Romero Quintana
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  3. Eliakym Arámbula Meraz
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  4. Fernando Bergez Hernández
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  6. Alejandra Martínez Camberos
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  7. Marco Álvarez Arrazola
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  8. Enrique Romo Martínez
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  9. Dora Cedano Prieto
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  10. José Contreras Gutiérrez
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  11. Noemi García Magallanes
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Correspondence to Noemi García Magallanes.

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Corresponding editor: Durgadas P. Kasbekar

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Irigoyen Arredondo, M., Romero Quintana, J., Arámbula Meraz, E. et al. Differential expression of the androgen receptor gene is correlated with CAG polymorphic repeats in patients with prostate cancer. J Genet 102, 23 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-023-01421-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12041-023-01421-1

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