Macrophage/cancer cell interactions mediate hormone resistance by a nuclear receptor derepression pathway

Defining the precise molecular strategies that coordinate patterns of transcriptional responses to specific signals is central for understanding normal development and homeostasis as well as the pathogenesis of hormone-dependent cancers. Here we report specific prostate cancer cell/macrophage interactions that mediate a switch in function of selective androgen receptor antagonists/modulators (SARMs) from repression to activation in vivo. This is based on an evolutionarily conserved receptor N-terminal L/HX7LL motif, selectively present in sex steroid receptors, that causes recruitment of TAB2 as a component of an N-CoR corepressor complex. TAB2 acts as a sensor for inflammatory signals by serving as a molecular beacon for recruitment of MEKK1, which in turn mediates dismissal of the N-CoR/HDAC complex and permits derepression of androgen and estrogen receptor target genes. Surprisingly, this conserved sensor strategy may have arisen to mediate reversal of sex steroid-dependent repression of a limited cohort of target genes in response to inflammatory signals, linking inflammatory and nuclear receptor ligand responses to essential reproductive functions.