Androgen-deprivation induced senescence in prostate cancer cells is permissive for the development of castration-resistance but susceptible to senolytic therapy.

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths in men. Although androgen deprivation therapies (ADT) and antiandrogens confer increased survival rates, most patients eventually develop castration resistant disease (CRPC). Previous studies have shown that these treatments have limited cytotoxicity, and instead, promote tumor cell growth arrest. We show here that PCa cells grown in either charcoal-stripped serum or exposed to the antiandrogen, bicalutamide, undergo a senescent growth arrest marked by morphological changes, upregulated senescence-associated-β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal), cathepsin D accumulation, and expression of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The senescent growth arrest is, however, transient, as cells can resume proliferation upon restoration of normo-androgenic conditions. Intriguingly, enrichment for senescent cells confirmed that ADT-induced senescent cells recover their proliferative capacity, even under prolonged androgen deprivation, and form androgen-independent outgrowths. Transplantation of the enriched senescent population into castrated, syngeneic mice confirmed that senescent cells escape arrest and form castration-resistant tumors in vivo. Outgrowth from senescence was associated with increased expression of constitutively active androgen receptor splice variants, a common mechanism of resistance to ADT. Finally, the selective elimination of senescent PCa cells following ADT in vitro by the senolytic navitoclax (ABT-263) interfered with the development of androgen-independent outgrowth. Taken together, these data support the premise that ADT-induced senescence is a transient cell state from which CRPC populations can emerge, identifying senescence as a potential driver of disease progression. Furthermore, it is feasible that senolytic therapy to eliminate senescent PCa cells could delay disease recurrence and/or progression to androgen independence.