Lecture: «Insights into the molecular basis of castration resistant prostate cancer and spinal bulbar muscular atrophy»

Castration resistant prostate cancer and spinal bulbar muscular atrophy are very different diseases. Whereas the former is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths the latter is a very rare hereditary neuromuscular disease. Although very different these two diseases have one thing in common, which is the involvement of the transactivation domain of the androgen receptor in their onset.

The androgen receptor is the nuclear receptor responsible for the development of the male phenotype and is activated by the hormone testosterone. In my talk I will present our recent work on the characterization of the structure and interactions of the transactivation domain of this transcription factor with a special emphasis on how our findings provide clues for the future development of therapies for these two currently incurable conditions.