Androgen receptor-driven chromatin looping in prostate cancer

The androgen receptor (AR) is important for prostate cancer development and progression. Genome-wide mapping of AR binding sites in prostate cancer has found that the majority of AR binding sites are located within non-promoter regions. These distal AR binding regions regulate AR target genes (e.g. UBE2C) involved in prostate cancer growth through chromatin looping. In addition to long-distance gene regulation, looping has been shown to induce spatial proximity of two genes otherwise located far away along the genomic sequence and the formation of double-strand DNA breaks, resulting in aberrant gene fusions (e.g. TMPRSS2–ERG) that also contribute to prostate tumorigenesis. Elucidating the mechanisms of AR-driven chromatin looping will increase our understanding of prostate carcinogenesis and may lead to the identification of new therapeutic targets.