A brief overview of androgen receptor: Its structure, functions and role in health and disease

The androgen receptor (AR) signalling axis plays a vital role in the development, function and homeostasis of the prostate. The classical action of AR is to regulate gene transcriptional processes successively via AR nuclear translocation, binding to androgen response elements on target genes and recruitment of, or crosstalk with, transcription factors. Dysregulation of androgen/AR signalling perturbs normal reproductive development and accounts for a wide range of pathological conditions such as androgen-insensitive syndrome, prostate cancer (PCa) and cardiovascular diseases. Prostate cancer (PCa) initiation and progression is also uniquely dependent on AR. Androgen deprivation therapy remains the standard form of treatment of advanced PCa. Recent research provides a much more detailed understanding of the role of AR in normal human development and physiology in relation to its structure and functions. This review discusses genomic and non-genomic actions of AR, as well as their co-regulators. In addition we also explore several clinically relevant aspects of the molecular biology of the AR in the pathogenesis of non-cancerous and cancerous diseases.