7340 Elucidating the Role of Steroid Hormone Receptors in Anaplastic Thyroid Carcinoma and Pancreatic Ductal Carcinoma Models

Abstract Disclosure: O.M. Stockert: None. C.A. Lange: None. Steroid hormones play important roles in modulating transcription mechanisms in a variety of cancers, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, and ovarian cancer. These interactions are highly context-dependent and regulated by diverse ligands, cofactors, and dynamic post-translational modifications that occur in response to the activation of stress-sensing and oncogenic signaling pathways. Numerous other cancers are associated with elevated steroid hormones, steroid hormone receptors, or both, but have not been studied to explore the possibility of leveraging steroid or steroid receptor (SR)-modulated transcriptional regulation to combat cancerous growth. Two of these cancers are pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC). PDAC is an aggressive cancer with a very poor 5-year survival of 8-11%. It is also rapidly growing in incidence and has been shown to be associated with other increasing health conditions, including diabetes and obesity. PDAC is associated with metabolic reprogramming and elevated Progesterone Receptor (PR), Glucocorticoid Receptor (GR), and Mineralocorticoid Receptor (MR) expression. ATC is another aggressive cancer with less than 10% 6-month survival from diagnosis. Like PDAC, ATC has a rapidly increasing incidence and is associated with obesity and high-fat diets. ATC is also associated with elevated cholesterol biosynthesis and elevated GR expression. Herein, we probed public data sets and screened a panel of PDAC and ATC models to demonstrate the expression of mixed SRs. In this study, we take an initial exploration of the hypothesis that related SRs (such as PR, GR, and/or MR) contribute to PDAC and ATC progression and that post-translational modifications, ligand binding, and/or selected cofactors modulate SR actions in the context of activated signaling pathways associated with these aggressive cancers. This study gives us a preliminary understanding of the potential role of steroid hormones and their receptors in the aggressive biology of two deadly and increasingly prevalent endocrine cancers in aging and obese populations. Presentation: 6/3/2024