The clinical development of immunotherapy has gained significant impetus in recent years across the field of medical oncology. Mounting preclinical and clinical data have demonstrated the potential of immune-based treatments to augment anti-tumor immune responses. With one of the first modern immunotherapies approved in prostate cancer and multiple others in late stage development, immune treat...

This review is triggered by recent developments that offer new explanations for the mechanism of progression of prostate cancer to androgen independence. Established and hypothetical mechanisms, which have been described in the past, are put into perspective with recent progress in the field. A total of seven mechanisms can be identified that relate to progression to androgen independence. Five...

There have been significant improvements in the radiotherapeutic management of patients with high risk prostate cancer. Randomized trials have clearly demonstrated improved outcomes with the combination of radiotherapy in conjunction with androgen deprivation. While these trials have utilized low doses of radiotherapy in the range of 70 Gy, recent studies have suggested that significant benefit...

This work was undertaken (i) to study deeply the estrogen, androgen and progestative activities of tibolone and its metabolites (ii) to determine whether tibolone and its metabolites present glucocorticoid or mineralocorticoid activity. For this purpose, we used human cell lines bearing a luciferase gene with a responsive element under the control of human estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) or e...

The androgen receptor (AR) surface-directed antagonist MJC13 inhibits AR function and proliferation of prostate cancer (PC) cells. These effects are related to arrest of an AR/chaperone complex in the cytoplasm. Here, we compared MJC13 and classic AR antagonists such as flutamide and bicalutamide. Microarray analysis and confirmatory qRT-PCR reveals that MJC13 and flutamide inhibit dihydrotesto...

Recently we constructed yeast cells that either express the human estrogen receptor alpha or the human androgen receptor in combination with a consensus ERE or ARE repeat in the promoter region of a green fluorescent protein (yEGFP) read-out system. These bioassays were proven to be highly specific for their cognate agonistic compounds. In this study the value of these yeast bioassays was asses...

Within the last decade, several classes of chemicals have been shown in laboratory studies to disrupt reproductive development by acting as androgen receptor (AR) antagonists and/or inhibitors of fetal Leydig cell testosterone production. Some phthalate esters alter gubernacular differentiation by reducing insulin-like 3 (insl3) mRNA levels. We have found that AR antagonists and inhibitors of f...

INTRODUCTION Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the lynchpin of treatment for advanced prostate cancer. Prescribing physicians and patients have a choice between orchiectomy, luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists, combined androgen deprivation (CAD) or LHRH antagonists. MATERIALS AND METHODS Literature relating to the use of LHRH antagonists in the management of prostate ca...

While androgen-deprivation therapy can induce dramatic clinical responses in advanced and metastatic prostate cancer, refractory disease (castration-resistant prostate cancer [CRPC]) eventually emerges. In recent years, several studies have demonstrated the importance of residual intratumoral androgens in maintaining androgen receptor (AR) transcriptional activity in CRPC. The cytochrome P450 e...

Steroid-induced maturation of Xenopus oocytes has long served as a model for studying meiosis. Progesterone has been considered the relevant steroid controlling maturation, perhaps through interactions with classical progesterone receptors. In this study, we provide evidence that androgens, rather than progesterone, are the physiologic mediators of Xenopus oocyte maturation. Androgens were equa...