Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0376358 (prostate cancer)
 59,338 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-activated transcription factor that is central to androgen-dependent development and diseases. Activity of the receptor is influenced by the length of a CAG/glutamine tract in its N-terminal transactivating domain. Expansions of this tract cause Kennedy disease, a protein aggregation degenerative disorder of motor neurons that occurs only in men, and shorter length tracts have been linked to increased risk of prostate cancer. Here we review recent data from mouse models in which gene targeting was used to humanize the mouse Ar gene and introduce CAG/glutamine tracts of varying lengths. Insertion of an expanded tract encoded by 113 CAG repeats modeled Kennedy disease and revealed an important myopathic contribution to the disease phenotype. Variations in CAG tract length within the range of normal human alleles influenced the onset and progression of prostate cancer when targeted Ar mice were crossed to a transgenic prostate cancer model. This series of mice with different Ar alleles has provided insights into the mechanisms by which variations in the CAG/glutamine tract length influence the occurrence of human disease.
 ...
PMID:The androgen receptor's CAG/glutamine tract in mouse models of neurological disease and cancer. 1856 Jan 35

We cloned a novel splicing variant for nuclear coactivator p120(alpha), designated as p120beta and studied its function and expression in several human prostate diseases. Transfection assays demonstrated that p120beta functions as a strong coactivator for androgen receptor (AR), but weakly for other nuclear receptors. GST-pull down assay showed that a glutamine-rich region of the p120 bound to the ligand-binding domain of AR. Interestingly, p120beta mRNAs were expressed predominantly in the normal prostate, androgen-responsive prostate cancers and an androgen-sensitive prostate cancer cell line, LNCaP, but weakly in recurrent cancers and the androgen-insensitive prostate cancer cell lines PC3 and DU145. Furthermore, knockdown of p120alpha by siRNA abolished coactivator activity on thyroid hormone receptors (TR) and PPARgamma, but did not affect that of ARs in PC3 cells. In addition, competitive assay with other nuclear receptors demonstrated that TR and PPARgamma did not inhibit p120beta-induced stimulation. These findings suggested that while p120alpha was essential for ligand-dependent stimulation of TRs and PPARgamma, p120beta acted as a coactivating protein predominantly for AR.
 ...
PMID:A novel splice variant of the nuclear coactivator p120 functions strongly for androgen receptor: characteristic expression in prostate disease. 1856 Feb 2

New gene expressed in prostate (NGEP) is a prostate-specific polytopic membrane protein found at high concentrations at cell:cell contact regions. To determine if NGEP is a useful target for antibody-based therapy of prostate cancer, we performed an immunohistochemical analysis of 126 human prostate carcinoma samples using polyclonal anti-NGEP sera and found that 91% of the cancers express NGEP protein. To elucidate the topology of NGEP and guide the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) reacting with the extracellular regions of NGEP, a hemagglutinin epitope tag was inserted at several positions within the NGEP sequence. The tagged proteins were expressed in 293T cells and locations of the tags were determined by immunofluorescence in intact or permeabilized cells. The results indicate that NGEP contains eight transmembrane domains with both the NH(2) and COOH termini of NGEP located inside the cell. We produced mAb to three regions that are predicted to be intracellular based on the epitope tag data (amino acids 1-352, 441-501, and 868-933), and as predicted, the mAb only detected the protein in permeabilized cells. NGEP is a glycoprotein with predicted glycosylation sites at N809 and N824. When these residues were converted to glutamine, glycosylation was abolished, confirming that the residues are extracellular. Our findings on the expression and the orientation of the NGEP protein serve as an important framework for the development of mAb targeting the extracellular regions of NGEP that could be used for prostate cancer immunotherapy.
 ...
PMID:Topology of NGEP, a prostate-specific cell:cell junction protein widely expressed in many cancers of different grade level. 1867 55

Gain-of-function mutations in the androgen receptor (AR) are found in prostate cancer and are implicated in the failure of hormone therapy. Most studies have emphasized the ligand-binding domain (LBD) where mutations can create promiscuous receptors, but mutations in the NH(2)-terminal transactivation domain have also been found. To assess AR alteration as a mechanism of treatment resistance, a mouse model (h/mAR-TRAMP) was used in which the murine AR coding region is replaced by human sequence and prostate cancer initiated by a transgenic oncogene. Mice received either no treatment, androgen depletion by castration, or treatment with antiandrogens, and 20 AR transcripts were sequenced per end-stage tumor. All tumors expressed several mutant alleles, although most mutations were low frequency. Some mutations that occurred multiple times within the population were differentially located dependent on treatment. Mutations in castrated or antiandrogen-treated mice were widely dispersed but with a prominent cluster in the LBD (amino acids 736-771), whereas changes in intact mice centered near the NH(2)-terminal polymorphic glutamine tract. Functional characterization of selected LBD mutant alleles showed diverse effects on AR activity, with about half of the mutations reducing transactivation in vitro. One receptor, AR-R753Q, behaved in a cell- and promoter-dependent manner, although as a germ-line mutation it causes androgen insensitivity syndrome. This suggests that alleles that are loss of function during development may still activate a subset of AR targets to become gain of function in tumorigenesis. Mutant ARs may thus use multiple mechanisms to evade cancer treatment.
 ...
PMID:Profiling human androgen receptor mutations reveals treatment effects in a mouse model of prostate cancer. 1901 Aug 17

Altered glucose metabolism in cancer cells is termed the Warburg effect, which describes the propensity of most cancer cells to take up glucose avidly and convert it primarily to lactate, despite available oxygen. Notwithstanding the renewed interest in the Warburg effect, cancer cells also depend on continued mitochondrial function for metabolism, specifically glutaminolysis that catabolizes glutamine to generate ATP and lactate. Glutamine, which is highly transported into proliferating cells, is a major source of energy and nitrogen for biosynthesis, and a carbon substrate for anabolic processes in cancer cells, but the regulation of glutamine metabolism is not well understood. Here we report that the c-Myc (hereafter referred to as Myc) oncogenic transcription factor, which is known to regulate microRNAs and stimulate cell proliferation, transcriptionally represses miR-23a and miR-23b, resulting in greater expression of their target protein, mitochondrial glutaminase, in human P-493 B lymphoma cells and PC3 prostate cancer cells. This leads to upregulation of glutamine catabolism. Glutaminase converts glutamine to glutamate, which is further catabolized through the tricarboxylic acid cycle for the production of ATP or serves as substrate for glutathione synthesis. The unique means by which Myc regulates glutaminase uncovers a previously unsuspected link between Myc regulation of miRNAs, glutamine metabolism, and energy and reactive oxygen species homeostasis.
 ...
PMID:c-Myc suppression of miR-23a/b enhances mitochondrial glutaminase expression and glutamine metabolism. 1921 26

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a serine protease belonging to the human kallikrein family, is best known as a prostate cancer biomarker. Emerging evidence suggests that PSA may also play a salient role in prostate cancer development and progression. With large amounts of enzymatically active PSA continuously and selectively produced by all stages of prostate cancer, PSA is an attractive target. PSA inhibitors, therefore, may represent a promising class of therapeutics and/or imaging agents. PSA displays chymotrypsin-like specificity, cleaving after hydrophobic residues, in addition to possessing a unique ability to cleave after glutamine in the P1 position. In this study, we investigated the structural motifs of the PSA S1 pocket that give it a distinct architecture and specificity when compared to the S1 pocket of chymotrypsin. Using the previously described PSA substrate Ser-Ser-Lys-Leu-Gln (SSKLQ) as a template, peptide aldehyde based inhibitors containing novel P1 aldehydes were made and tested against both proteases. Glutamine derivative aldehydes were highly specific for PSA while inhibitors with hydrophobic P1 aldehydes were potent inhibitors of both proteases with K(i) values <500 nM. The crystal structure of PSA was used to generate a model that allowed GOLD docking studies to be performed to further understand the critical interactions required for inhibitor binding to the S1 pockets of PSA and chymotrypsin. In conclusion, these results provide experimental and structural evidence that the S1 specificity pocket of PSA is distinctly different from that of chymotrypsin and that the development of highly specific PSA inhibitors is feasible.
 ...
PMID:Prostate-specific antigen is a "chymotrypsin-like" serine protease with unique P1 substrate specificity. 1928 Dec 49

Selective amino acid restriction targets mitochondria resulting in DU145 and PC3 prostate cancer cell death. This study shows that restriction of tyrosine and phenylalanine (Tyr/Phe), glutamine (Gln), or methionine (Met) differentially modulates glucose metabolism, glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta), p53, and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) in these two cell lines. In DU145 cells, Gln and Met restriction increase glucose consumption, but Tyr/Phe restriction does not. Addition of glucose to culture media diminishes cell death induced by Tyr/Phe-restriction. Addition of pyruvate reduces cell death due to Tyr/Phe and Gln restriction. Tyr/Phe, Gln and Met restriction increase phosphorylation of GSK3beta-Ser(9), phosphorylation of p53-Ser(15) and reduce the mitochondrial localization of PDH. Addition of glucose or pyruvate to cultures significantly reverses the alterations in GSK3beta, p53 and PDH induced by amino acid restriction. In p53-null PC3 cells, Tyr/Phe, Gln and Met restriction decreases glucose consumption, reduces phosphorylation of Akt-Ser(473), and increases phosphorylation of GSK3beta-Ser(9). Addition of pyruvate or glucose reduces death of Met-restricted cells. Addition of glucose increases phosphorylation of Akt-Ser(473) in amino acid-restricted cells reduces phosphorylation of GSK3beta-Ser(9) in Tyr/Phe and Gln restricted cells and increases phosphorylation of GSK3beta-Ser(9) in Met restricted cells. Addition of pyruvate reduces phosphorylation of GSK3beta-Ser(9) in all amino acid-restricted cells. In summary, cell death induced by specific amino acid restriction is dependent on or closely related to the modulation of glucose metabolism. GSK3beta (DU145 and PC3) and p53 (DU145) are crucial switches connecting metabolism and these signaling molecules to cell survival during amino acid restriction.
 ...
PMID:Cell death of prostate cancer cells by specific amino acid restriction depends on alterations of glucose metabolism. 2043 47

The authors analysed the value of metabolomic profiles to predict biochemical progression (BP) risk in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) submitted to radical prostatectomy(RP). They retrospectively analysed 183 PCa cases submitted to RP, using an intact-tissue magnetic resonance spectroscopy(MRS) method. A high-resolution, magic-angle, spinning proton MRS was used to investigate a metabolomic analysis of still-intact prostate tissue. This method allows study of chemical metabolites in their native state and control of intact tissue spectra, preserving the tissue for pathologic analysis. In this study, metabolomic profiles analysed by MRS could differentiate cases of PCa with BP after RP from clinical and pathologic-stage matched cases without BP.The major contributing factors to the observed metabolomic profiles were changes in spermine polyamines,phosphoryl choline, glutamine, inositol, and glutamate. The overall accuracy for predicting BP based on metabolomic profiles ranged from 71% to 78%. The suggestion is that PCa metabolic profiles studied at RP with MRS may provide available adjunct parameter to predict the risk of progression after surgery.
 ...
PMID:Words of wisdom. Re: Retrospective analysis of prostate cancer recurrence potential with tissue metabolomic profiles. Maxeiner A, Adkins CB, Zhang Y, et al. Prostate 2010;70:710-7. 2001 67

Selective amino acid restriction targets mitochondria to induce apoptosis of DU145 and PC3 prostate cancer cells. Biochemical assays and flow cytometry were uitilized to analyze the glucose consumption, lactate production, pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)/NADH and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP)/NADPH ratios, mitochondrial glutathione peroxidase (GPx), manganese superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione, reactive oxygen species (ROS) and DNA damage in DU145 and PC prostate cancer cells cultured under various amino acid deprived conditions. Restriction of tyrosine and phenylalanine (Tyr/Phe), glutamine (Gln) or methionine (Met) differentially modulated glucose metabolism and PDH and antioxidant enzyme activity in the mitochondria of the two prostate cancer cell lines. In DU145 cells, Gln and Met restriction increased glucose consumption and decreased lactate production, but Tyr/Phe restriction did not. The examined restrictions increased mitochondrial PDH activity and accumulation of ROS. Gln and Met restriction increased GPx activity. Tyr/Phe and Met restriction increased SOD during the first 2 days of the restriction, and the activity returned to the basal level on day 4. All amino acid restrictions decreased reduced glutathione (GSH) and induced mitochondrial DNA damage. In PC3 cells, all amino acid restrictions reduced glucose consumption and lactate production. Gln restriction increased ROS and elevated GPx activity. Tyr/Phe restriction increased SOD activity. The amino acid restriction decreased GSH, but did not cause mitochondrial DNA damage. Specific amino acid dependency differentially regulates glucose metabolism, oxidation-reduction reactions of mitochondria and mitochondrial damage in DU145 and PC3 prostate cancer cell lines.
 ...
PMID:Differential effects of specific amino acid restriction on glucose metabolism, reduction/oxidation status and mitochondrial damage in DU145 and PC3 prostate cancer cells. 2141 30

To investigate the mechanism for the development of human prostate cancer, examination was made of structural abnormality of the androgen receptor (AR) gene in 29 human prostate cancer. AR gene mutations from exons A to H were examined by PCR-SSCP and microsatellite instability analysis using (CAG)n and (GGN)n polymorphic markers in AR gene exon A. A point mutation was found in the exon D hormone-binding domain of AR leading to substitution of glutamine (GAG) for wild-type arginine (CGG) at codon 629 in 1 (3.4%) hormone-independent stage D2 patient. Microsatellite instability was detected in 5 of the 27 (18.5%) patients, 1 of 6 (16.7%) hormone-independent stage D2 and 4 of 21 (19.0%) hormone-dependent and non-treated prostate cancer patients. AR mutations may possibly be involved in the transition from androgen-dependent to independent stages during androgen ablation therapy.
 ...
PMID:Mutation and microsatellite instability analysis of the androgen receptor gene in human prostate cancer. 2152 46


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>