Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is a member of the nuclear receptor (NR) superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors. Activated VDR is responsible for maintaining calcium and phosphate homeostasis, and is required for proper cellular growth, cell differentiation and apoptosis. The expression of both phases I and II drug-metabolizing enzymes is also regulated by VDR, therefore it is clinically important.Post-translational modifications of NRs have been known as an important mechanism modulating the activity of NRs and their ability to drive the expression of target genes. The aim of this mini review is to summarize the current knowledge about post-transcriptional and post-translational modifications of VDR.

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Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths of men in Western countries. Androgen deprivation therapy is initially successful, however eventually fails, and tumors progress to the more aggressive castration-resistant PCa (CRPC). Yet, androgen receptor (AR) usually remains as a major regulator of tumor cell proliferation in CRPC. Interleukin-23 (IL-23) was recently shown to promote the development of CRPC by driving AR transcription. Here we used the androgen-sensitive LNCaP, castration-resistant C4-2, and 22Rv1 cells. Interestingly, cellular senescence is induced in these human cell lines by treatment with the AR antagonists enzalutamide (ENZ) or darolutamide (ODM), which might be one underlying mechanism for inhibition of PCa cell proliferation. Treatment with IL-23 alone did not change cellular senescence levels in these cell lines, whereas IL-23 inhibited significantly cellular senescence levels induced by ENZ or ODM in both CRPC cell lines C4-2 and 22Rv1 but not in LNCaP cells. This indicates a response of IL-23 specific in CRPC cells. Generating LNCaP and C4-2 three-dimensional (3D) spheroids and treatment with AR antagonists resulted in the reduced spheroid volume and thus growth inhibition. However, the combination of AR antagonists with IL-23 did not affect the antagonist-mediated reduction of spheroid volumes. This observation was confirmed with proliferation assays using adherent monolayer cell cultures. Taken together, the data indicate that IL-23 treatment reduces the AR antagonists-induced level of cellular senescence of CRPC cells, which could be one possible mechanism for promoting castration resistance.

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