Mechanistic Language Modeling and Oxygenated 3D Screening Reveal Berberine and Enzalutamide Synergy in Resistant Prostate Cancer
Resistance to androgen receptor inhibitors remains a primary challenge in prostate cancer treatment, yet identifying synergistic co-therapies is hindered by immense combinatorial search spaces and the limited interpretability of predictive computation models. Here, we developed an integrated discovery-validation axis coupling knowledge-augmented large language models with oxygen-supplemented 3D spheroid assays. By leveraging inherent model stochasticity, our framework measures the degree of consensus across independent predictions to establish a formal metric for predictive accuracy. This principle enables high-throughput assessment of complex signaling crosstalk, yielding mechanistic rationales for all predictions and defining a high-confidence zone that minimizes experimental attrition. Utilizing this approach to screen 3,592 natural products, we identified a previously unrecognized synergy between berberine and enzalutamide that re-sensitizes resistant cells. Validation confirms that berberine perturbs the PI3K/AKT/mTOR and AMPK axes, a finding consistent with the mechanistic rationales computationally derived by the framework. Integrating interpretable AI with physiologically relevant 3D screening provides a scalable methodology for the rational discovery of synergistic therapies.
Authors
- Cho-Jui Hsieh
- Hyeonji Hwang
- Johnny Diaz
- Tanya Stoyanova
- Ziyi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7220-7875)
- Yunqi Hong
- Katie Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9412-9878)
- Robert Damoiseaux
- Alexandra Bermudez
- Lina Kafadarian
- Alan Levinson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3828-7232)
- Neil Y.C. Lin
- Weihong Yan
- Chih-Hui Lo
- Andrew S. Goldstein
- Liam Edwards (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2352-9636)
Institutions
- California NanoSystems Institute (US)
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Broad Center (US)
- National Defense Medical Center (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
- Published
- 2026-01-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.24.701539
- Primary Topic
- Berberine and alkaloids research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Defense
- Prostate Cancer Foundation
- Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation
- Cancer Research Coordinating Committee
- National Institutes of Health
- National Cancer Institute
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences
- Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems
- Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation
- DOD Prostate Cancer Research Program