Androgen Receptor

Androgen receptor (AR) is a steroid nuclear receptor that plays an important regulatory role in the normal development and function maintaining of the reproductive system, immune system, and central nervous system. In clinical practice, AR is mainly used as a diagnostic biomarker for prostate cancer (PCa). Some research found that AR is overexpressed in androgen dependent PCa, which makes the tumor sensitive to low-level hormones, and AR can indirectly promote PCa development by inhibiting cytotoxic T cell activity. However, AR high expression suggests that the tumor have higher chemotherapy sensitivity. This is because chemotherapy drugs can inhibit tumor proliferation through endogenously blocking the binding between AR to androgen. However, some scholars pointed out that AR can be expressed in liver cancer, gastric cancer, and melanoma, and the continuous activation of AR signaling pathway is a necessary factor for tumor occurrence. In addition, AR is considered to have tumor inhibition effect in ERα positive breast cancer. It can compete with ERα to bind estrogen response elements to affect the expression of ERα.