Skip to content
naulon

No retraction, correction or concern found when last checked on Oct 31, 2026.

Switch from antagonist to agonist of the androgen receptor blocker bicalutamide is associated with prostate tumour progression in a new model system

Z Culig, J Hoffmann, M Erdel and 8 more

British Journal of Cancer · 1999

doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6690684

Abstract

Advanced prostate cancer is treated by androgen ablation and/or androgen receptor (AR) antagonists. In order to investigate the mechanisms relevant to the development of therapy-resistant tumours, we established a new tumour model which closely resembles the situation in patients who receive androgen ablation therapy. Androgen-sensitive LNCaP cells were kept in androgen-depleted medium for 87 passages. The new LNCaP cell subline established in this manner, LNCaP-abl, displayed a hypersensitive biphasic proliferative response to androgen until passage 75. Maximal proliferation of LNCaP-abl cells was achieved at 0.001 nM of the synthetic androgen methyltrienolone (R1881), whereas 0.01 nM of this compound induced the same effect in parental cells. At later passages (> 75), androgen exerted an inhibitory effect on growth of LNCaP-abl cells. The non-steroidal anti-androgen bicalutamide stimulated proliferation of LNCaP-abl cells. AR protein expression in LNCaP-abl cells increased approximately fourfold. The basal AR transcriptional activity was 30-fold higher in LNCaP-abl than in LNCaP cells. R1881 stimulated reporter gene activity in LNCaP-abl cells even at 0.01 nM, whereas 0.1 nM of R1881 was needed for induction of the same level of reporter gene activity in LNCaP cells. Bicalutamide that acts as a pure antagonist in parental LNCaP cells showed agonistic effects on AR transactivation activity in LNCaP-abl cells and was not able to block the effects of androgen in these cells. The non-steroidal AR blocker hydroxyflutamide exerted stimulatory effects on AR activity in both LNCaP and LNCaP-abl cells; however, the induction of reporter gene activity by hydroxyflutamide was 2.4- to 4-fold higher in the LNCaP-abl subline. The changes in AR activity were associated neither with a new alteration in AR cDNA sequence nor with amplification of the AR gene. Growth of LNCaP-abl xenografts in nude mice was stimulated by bicalutamide and repressed by testosterone. In conclusion, our results show for the first time that the nonsteroidal anti-androgen bicalutamide acquires agonistic properties during long-term androgen ablation. These findings may have repercussions on the natural course of prostate cancer with androgen deprivation and on strategies of therapeutic intervention.

References 45

  1. 1.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  2. 2.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  3. 3.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  4. 4.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  5. 5.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  6. 6.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  7. 7.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  8. 8.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  9. 9.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  10. 10.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  11. 11.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  12. 12.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  13. 13.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  14. 14.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  15. 15.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  16. 16.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  17. 17.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  18. 18.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  19. 19.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  20. 20.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  21. 21.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  22. 22.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  23. 23.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  24. 24.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  25. 25.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  26. 26.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  27. 27.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  28. 28.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  29. 29.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  30. 30.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  31. 31.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  32. 32.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  33. 33.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  34. 34.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  35. 35.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  36. 36.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  37. 37.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  38. 38.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  39. 39.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

  40. 40.

    This reference’s wording can’t be shown under the paper’s licence.

    Not in our library

All 45 references

Cited by papers we hold 9

Reads

Read by people on this page

None yet.

Checked or read by AI through naulon

None yet.

A person counts once a day per paper. We keep no cookie and no address: a reader is a hash that changes every day. Any month under five reads shows no number.

Are you an author?

Is this your paper?

Claim it to add your note and be paid when agents cite it. Free.