Androgen receptor variants and methods for making and using

A method of treating castration resistant prostate cancer, the method comprising a step of:

• administering an optimized castration resistant prostate cancer treatment to a patient undergoing a course of treatment for prostate cancer, wherein:
• the patient's response to the course of treatment has been determined by:
• detecting in a first sample from the patient taken at a first time point before or during the course of treatment, a first level of a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a variant androgen receptor or portion thereof having an amino acid sequence containing a mutation at amino acid 876 relative to a reference androgen receptor polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:1, wherein the mutation is F876I, F876L, or F876V;
• detecting in a second sample from the patient taken at a second time point, later than the first time point and during the course of treatment, a second level of the nucleic acid sequence;
• and
• comparing the first and second detected levels;
• and
• determining that the course of treatment is the optimized castration resistant prostate cancer treatment if the second level is reduced relative to the first level or that an alternative course of treatment is the optimized castration resistant prostate cancer treatment if the second level is not reduced relative to the first level.

A method of treating castration resistant prostate cancer, the method comprising:

• administering to a patient suffering from castration resistant prostate cancer a treatment selected by a process comprising steps of:
• detecting expression level of a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a variant androgen receptor or portion thereof having an amino acid sequence containing a mutation at amino acid 876 relative to a reference androgen receptor polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:
• 1, wherein the mutation at amino acid 876 is F876I, F876L, or F876V in samples obtained from at least first and second time points from a patient undergoing a course or treatment for prostate cancer;
• determining if the patient has a positive response to the course of treatment by comparing the detected expression level at the at least first and second time points;
• selecting the treatment as appropriate in light of the determining.