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)

Androgens are important steroid hormones for expression of the male phenotype. They have characteristic roles during male sexual differentiation, during development and maintenance of secondary male characteristics, and during the initiation and maintenance of spermatogenesis. The two most important androgens in this respect are testosterone and 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone. Each androgen has its own specific role during male sexual differentiation, testosterone is involved in the development and differentiation of Wolffian duct derived structures, whereas 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone, a metabolite of testosterone, is the active ligand in the urogenital sinus and tubercle and their derived structures. The actions of androgens are mediated by the androgen receptor. This ligand dependent transcription factor belongs to the superfamily of nuclear receptors, including those for the other steroid hormones. The androgen receptor gene is located on the X-chromosome at Xq11--12 and codes for a protein with a molecular mass of approximately 110 kDa. Only one androgen receptor cDNA has been identified sofar, despite two different ligands. It is generally accepted that defects in the androgen receptor gene prevent the normal development of both internal and external male structures in 46, XY individuals. The end-organ resistance to androgens has been designated as androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) and is distinct from other forms of male pseudohermaphroditism like 17 beta-hydroxy-steroid dehydrogenase type 3 deficiency, leydig cell hypoplasia due to inactivating LH receptor mutations or 5 alpha-reductase type 2 deficiency. Furthermore, two additional pathological situations are associated with abnormal androgen receptor structure and function -- spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA, or Kennedy's disease) and prostate cancer. In the AR gene, four different types of mutations have been detected in DNA from individuals with AIS -- (i) single point mutations resulting in amino acid substitutions or premature stopcodons; (ii) nucleotide insertions or deletions most often leading to a frame shift and premature termination; (iii) complete or partial gene deletions; and (iv) intronic mutations in either splice donor or acceptor sites, which affect the splicing of AR RNA. The main phenotypic characteristics of individuals with the complete androgen insensitivity syndrome (CAIS) are, female external genitalia, a short, blind ending vagina, the absence of Wolffian duct derived structures, the absence of a prostate, development of gynecomastia and the absence of pubic and axillary hair. Usually testosterone levels are elevated at the time of puberty, while also elevated LH levels are found. In the partial androgen insensitivity syndrome (PAIS) several different phenotypes are evident, ranging from individuals with predominantly a female appearance to persons with ambiguous genitalia, or individuals with a predominantly male phenotype. At puberty, elevated LH, testosterone and estradiol levels are observed. Individuals with mild symptoms of undervirilization (mild androgen insensitivity syndrome (MAIS)) and infertility have been described as well. Phenotypic variation between individuals in different families has been described for several mutations. However, in cases of CAIS no phenotypic variation has been described within one single family, in contrast to families with individuals with PAIS. In general AIS, can be routinely analyzed and more than 150 different mutations have been reported now. Differential diagnosis of AIS is possible with syndromes presenting with almost similar phenotypes but with a completely different molecular cause.
 ...
PMID:Molecular basis of androgen insensitivity. 1142 Jan 35

Normal adult prostate epithelium of both human and rat origin was transplanted with Matrigel into intact or androgen-ablated (i.e., castrated) nude mice. Within these transplants, an influx of mouse mesenchymal cells was one of the earliest events to occur resulting in the development of a collar of smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts surrounding the transplanted epithelium. A subset of these surrounding stromal cells express androgen receptor (AR). The surrounded transplanted epithelium initially expresses high molecular weight cytokeratins characteristic of prostatic basal cells and AR. In both intact and androgen-ablated hosts, this epithelium subsequently develops a patent lumen producing a rudimentary glandular acini. Only in the nonablated hosts, however, do these rudimentary acini undergo a further proliferative growth phase, as determined by Ki67 immunocytochemical stainings and the development of a low molecular weight cytokeratin positive layer of luminal (i.e., secretory) epithelial cells. Because AR is expressed in both the donor epithelium and host (i.e., mouse) stromal cells, this androgen-stimulated growth response could involve either autocrine pathways initiated within donor normal adult epithelial cells themselves or paracrine pathways initiated within the AR-expressing subset of mouse stromal cells. To resolve this issue, mice carrying the testicular feminized mutation in the X-linked AR gene were cross-bred to AR-wt nude mice to produce AR-null nude male mice. None of the cells in these AR-null nude male mice express functional AR protein. Therefore, these animals can be used to prevent any possibility of host stromal cell paracrine involvement in initiating an androgen-stimulated growth response when normal adult or malignant prostatic epithelial cells are transplanted into these null hosts. In these AR-null nude male mice, the androgen-stimulated growth of normal adult prostatic epithelial cells did not occur (i.e., androgen-induced growth response of normal prostatic epithelial cells requires stromal cell paracrine involvement). In contrast, using four different prostatic cancer models (i.e., human PC-82, human LNCaP, human LAPC-4, and rat R3327G), the androgen-stimulated growth of prostatic cancer cells occurred identically in both AR-null and AR-wt nude male mice (i.e., a direct autocrine mechanism is responsible for androgen-stimulated growth of malignant prostatic epithelial cells). In summary, a fundamental change in the mechanism for androgen-stimulated growth occurs during the transformation from normal to malignant prostatic epithelial cells.
 ...
PMID:Conversion from a paracrine to an autocrine mechanism of androgen-stimulated growth during malignant transformation of prostatic epithelial cells. 1143 38

There is some epidemiological support for a protective influence of omega-3 fatty acids against prostate cancer. We wanted to explore whether omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) can affect androgen receptor function in prostate cancer cells. Our study showed that both DHA and EPA inhibit androgen-stimulated cell growth. Androgenic induction of prostate-specific antigen (PSA) protein was repressed by DHA and EPA in a dose-dependent manner. The mRNA levels of five androgen up-regulated genes, PSA, ornithine decarboxylase, NKX 3.1, immunophilin fkbp 51 and Drg-1, were decreased with DHA treatment in the presence of androgens. Transfection experiments using a DNA vector containing androgen-responsive elements demonstrated that both DHA and EPA could interfere with transactivation activities of the androgen receptor (AR). However, western blot analysis of AR protein showed that DHA and EPA treatments did not change AR expression levels. Interestingly, the proto-oncoprotein c-jun was increased by DHA treatment. A transient transfection found that forced expression of c-jun inhibited AR transactivation activity. Thus, this study found that the inhibitory effects of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids on AR-mediated actions are due, at least in part, to an increase in c-jun protein.
 ...
PMID:Effects of docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid on androgen-mediated cell growth and gene expression in LNCaP prostate cancer cells. 1147 Jul 50

The androgen receptor (AR) is a member of the nuclear receptor (NR) superfamily that mediates the effects of androgens on target tissues. Over the last decade, it has become apparent that NRs require accessory factors for optimal activation of target gene expression. Numerous NR coregulators have been identified, with diverse structures and potential mechanisms of coregulation, creating an increasingly complicated picture of NR action. Due to the expanding complexity of the coregulator field, this review will focus on the AR ligand-binding domain (LBD) and N-terminal interacting proteins identified by our lab. The LBD-interacting proteins ARA70, ARA55 and ARA54 were first characterized and ARA70 was found to have a relatively higher specificity for the AR in human prostate cancer DU145 cells. Characterization of the functional relationship between the AR and these coregulators indicated that ARA70 and ARA55 could enhance the androgenic effects of 17beta-estradiol (E2) and hydroxyflutamide (HF), an antiandrogen commonly used in the treatment of prostate cancer. ARA160, an AR N-terminal interacting protein also known as TATA element modulatory factor (TMF), was subsequently shown to cooperate with ARA70 in enhancing AR activity. Another AR N-terminal interacting protein, ARA24, interacted with the poly-Q tract, a region within the N-terminus of the AR linked to Kennedy's disease (X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy). More recently, our lab has identified ARA267, a SET domain containing protein, and supervillin, an F-actin binding protein, as AR coregulators. Collectively, the data from these studies indicate that these coregulators are necessary for optimal AR transactivation. Interruption of the interaction between AR and these proteins may serve as a new therapeutic target in the treatment of prostate cancer.
 ...
PMID:Identification and characterization of androgen receptor associated coregulators in prostate cancer cells. 1150 69

Prostate cancer (PCa) is an androgen dependent disease that can be treated by androgen ablation therapy, and clinical trials are under way to prevent PCa through the reduction of androgen receptor (AR) activity. However, there are no animal models of AR-mediated prostatic neoplasia, and it remains unclear whether the AR is a positive or negative regulator of cell growth in normal prostate secretory epithelium. To assess the direct effects of the AR in prostate epithelium, a murine AR transgene regulated by the rat probasin promoter (Pb) was used to generate transgenic mice expressing increased levels of AR protein in prostate secretory epithelium. The prostates in younger (<1 year) Pb-mAR transgenic mice were histologically normal, but Ki-67 immunostaining revealed marked increases in epithelial proliferation in ventral prostate and dorsolateral prostate. Older (>1 year) transgenic mice developed focal areas of intraepithelial neoplasia strongly resembling human high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), a precursor to PCa. These results demonstrate that the AR is a positive regulator of cell growth in normal prostate epithelium and provide a model system of AR-stimulated PIN that can be used for assessing preventative hormonal therapies and for identifying secondary transforming events relevant to human PCa.
 ...
PMID:Prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia in mice expressing an androgen receptor transgene in prostate epithelium. 1153 19

An androgen-independent (AI) prostate cancer cell line, derived recently from an LNCaP cell line maintained in androgen-poor conditions, has properties resembling a subgroup of advanced prostate cancers in that it has an overexpressed androgen receptor (AR), undetectable levels of p21WAF1 and prostate-specific antigen, and is resistant to apoptosis. The loss of prostate-specific antigen expression but not the p21WAF1 is attributable to gene silencing by hypermethylation. The high AR and undetectable p21WAF1 of AI cells, and lower AR but highly expressed p21WAF1 of androgen-dependent parental LNCaP cells, suggest a possibility of a functional link between these two proteins. Therefore, we examined the impact the modulation of AR will have on the expression of p21WAF1. Treatment of androgen-dependent cells with an androgen agonist, R1881, increased the AR protein level, whereas it simultaneously reduced the endogenous p21WAF1-protein 8-fold and the activity of a transiently transfected p21-promoter-reporter 10-fold. The down-regulation of p21WAF1 promoter appeared to be ARE mediated, dependent on AR, and not cell-type specific. Furthermore, a reduction of the AR level in AI cells by AR-antisense oligonucleotide increased the p21WAF1 promoter-reporter activity by approximately 4-fold, confirming a functional link between these two proteins. A strong, direct induction of p21WAF1 expression achieved by treatment of AI cells with trichostatin A produced a partial reversion of the AI phenotype evidenced by increased sensitivity of these cells to paclitaxel-induced apoptosis. Moreover, a reduction of AR level by antisense treatment, which also increased p21WAF1 expression, partially restored the androgen dependence of AI cells for growth. The functional link between AR dosage and p21WAF1 expression suggests that therapeutic reduction of AR protein in advanced prostate cancers with elevated AR levels may re-establish their hormone dependence and improve therapeutic response to repeated hormonal ablation and/or induction of apoptosis.
 ...
PMID:Overexpressed androgen receptor linked to p21WAF1 silencing may be responsible for androgen independence and resistance to apoptosis of a prostate cancer cell line. 1160 92

Treatment of human prostate cancer cells, LNCaP, with cadmium stimulated cell growth. There was a 2.4-fold increase in the population of cells in the S + G(2)M phase by d 4 and a 2.7-fold increase in cell number by d 8. The metal decreased the concentration of AR protein and mRNA (80 and 60%, respectively) and increased the expression of prostate-specific antigen and the homeobox gene, NKX 3.1 (6-fold) that was blocked by an antiandrogen. In addition, cadmium activated the AR in mouse L cells containing an MMTV-luciferase reporter gene (4-fold increase) and in COS-1 cells transfected with wild-type AR and an MMTV-CAT reporter gene (7-fold increase). Cadmium also activated a chimeric receptor (GAL-AR) containing the hormone-binding domain of AR. The metal bound to AR with an equilibrium dissociation constant of 1.19 x 10(-10) M. Cadmium blocked the binding of androgen to the receptor but did not alter its affinity (dissociation constant = 2.8 x 10(-10) M), suggesting that the metal is an inhibitor of hormone binding. In castrated animals, a single, low, environmentally relevant dose of cadmium (20 microg/kg body weight) increased the wet weight of the prostate (1.97- to 3-fold) and the seminal vesicle complex (approximately 1.5-fold) and increased the expression of the androgen-regulated gene, probasin (27-fold). The in vivo effects were also blocked by an antiandrogen.
 ...
PMID:Role of cadmium in the regulation of AR gene expression and activity. 1175 18

In the ligand-binding inactive state, the steroid receptor heterocomplex contains Hsp90, Hsp70, high-molecular weight immunophilins, and other proteins. Hsp90 acts in association with co-chaperones to maintain the native state of the receptor within the cells. It was reported earlier that Hsp90 might not be as important for the androgen receptor (AR) activity as for the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the progesterone receptor (PR) activities. We used the Hsp90 inhibitor geldanamycin (GA) to explore the role of Hsp90 in the function of the AR heterocomplex. GA selectively binds to Hsp90 and inhibits its activity, leading to the loss of steroid receptor activity, and frequently, its degradation. In our study, LNCaP prostate cancer cells were treated with GA for 30 minutes or 24 hours, in the presence of mibolerone, a synthetic androgen. GA reduced the androgen-induced AR protein levels to 15% after 24 hours of treatment. Several androgen up-regulated genes, including immunophilin FKBP51 and prostate specific antigen (PSA), were reduced by GA treatment. In cells treated with GA after transfection with a PSA promoter or an androgen response element-driven reporter gene, AR-mediated transactivation of reporter gene expression was reversibly inhibited by GA. Loss of androgen-binding ability and AR levels was attributed to reduced transcription of AR-regulated gene expression. Degradation rate of 35S-labeled AR was significantly increased by GA in the presence or absence of mibolerone. GA induced the degradation of AR through the proteasomal pathway. AR in cells treated with proteasomal inhibitor lactacystin, was insoluble in Nonidet P-40 (NP40)-based buffer and could not restore the androgen-binding ability. We report here that GA treatment disrupted both hormone-binding activity and receptor protein stability, resulting in a dramatic loss of androgen-induced gene activation. These results show that Hsp90 activity is important for both the chaperone-mediated folding of the AR into a high-affinity ligand-binding conformation and the functional activity of the AR.
 ...
PMID:Effect of geldanamycin on androgen receptor function and stability. 1189 40

The androgen receptor (AR) is a ligand-responsive transcription factor known to play a central role in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer. However, the regulation of AR gene expression in the normal and pathological prostate remains poorly understood. This study focuses on the effect of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase)/Akt axis on AR expression in vas deferens epithelial cells (VDEC), a suitable model to study androgen regulation of gene expression, and LNCaP cells (derived from a metastasis at the left supraclavicular lymph node from a 50-year-old patient with a confirmed diagnosis of metastatic prostate carcinoma). Taken together, our data show for the first time that the PI 3-kinase/Akt pathway is required for basal and dihydrotestosterone-induced AR protein expression in both VDEC and LNCaP. Inhibition of the PI 3-kinase/Akt pathway reduced AR expression and the decline in AR protein level correlated with a decrease in AR mRNA in VDEC but not in LNCaP. Since PI 3-kinase/Akt axis is active in prostate cancer, cross-talk between PI 3-kinase/Akt and AR signalling pathways may have implications for endocrine therapy.
 ...
PMID:Androgen receptor expression is regulated by the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt pathway in normal and tumoral epithelial cells. 1197 63

Apigenin, a common dietary flavonoid abundantly present in fruits and vegetables, may have the potential for prevention and therapy for prostate cancer. Here, we report for the first time that apigenin inhibits the growth of androgen-responsive human prostate carcinoma LNCaP cells and provide molecular understanding of this effect. The cell growth inhibition achieved by apigenin treatment resulted in a significant decrease in AR protein expression along with a decrease in intracellular and secreted forms of PSA. These effects were also observed in DHT-stimulated cells. Further, apigenin treatment of LNCaP cells resulted in G1 arrest in cell cycle progression which was associated with a marked decrease in the protein expression of cyclin D1, D2 and E and their activating partner cdk2, 4 and 6 with concomitant induction of WAF1/p21 and KIP1/p27. The induction of WAF1/p21 appears to be transcriptionally upregulated and is p53 dependent. In addition, apigenin inhibited the hyperphosphorylation of the pRb protein in these cells. Apigenin treatment also resulted in induction of apoptosis as determined by DNA fragmentation, PARP cleavage, fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. These effects were found to correlate with a shift in Bax/Bcl-2 ratio more towards apoptosis. Apigenin treatment also resulted in down-modulation of the constitutive expression of NF-kappaB/p65. Taken together, these findings suggest that apigenin has strong potential for development as an agent for prevention against prostate cancer.
 ...
PMID:Involvement of nuclear factor-kappa B, Bax and Bcl-2 in induction of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis by apigenin in human prostate carcinoma cells. 1203 41


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