Prostate cancer is the most common solid tumor among men in Western industrialized countries. A major problem in prostate cancer treatment is the development of androgen-independence, as androgen-deprivation therapy is the basic therapy for the disease. Molecular mechanisms behind prostate cancer and androgen-independent growth development are poorly known. In this study, subtractive hybridizat...

BACKGROUND Despite extensive effort, the mechanisms of prostate carcinogenesis are still unknown. We report on a modified method which enabled us to induce a high incidence of prostate carcinogenesis in the Noble rat and examined the role of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and their receptors during sex hormone-induced prostate carcinogenesis. ...

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related disease of unknown aetiology characterized by prostatic enlargement coincident with distinct alterations in tissue histomorphology. Instead of therapeutic agents that can cause severe side effects, plant extracts are frequently used to treat BPH. In this study, we investigated whether the Melandrium firmum methanolic extract (MFME) improves B...

Reevaluating the assay for rat steroid 5 alpha-reductase isozymes in prostate and epididymis homogenates we encountered an extreme pH-dependency of the type II isozyme. The time-course of the metabolism of testosterone (T) to 17 beta-hydroxy-5 alpha-androstan-3-one (DHT) at acidic pH shows an initial burst when the homogenate is not brought to pH before the start of the incubation. Therefore, t...

background prostate is an important male reproductive system gland and its disorders can affect men's quality of life and health. prostatitis, benign prostatic hyperplasia (bph), and prostate adenocarcinoma are major disorders that can be found in all men in different ages. objectives the aim of this study was to investigate the association of diet with serum prostate specific antigen (psa) lev...

The term "molecular imaging" can be broadly defined as the in vivo characterization and measurement of biological processes at the cellular and molecular level. Is a gene expression magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) possible? Therefore, we have developed a novel intravital and intracellular MRI contrast agent composed of a gadolinium complex, an oligonucleotide sequence [peptide nucleic acid (PN...

The activity and processing of mammalian S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC) is stimulated by putrescine. To obtain new insights into the mechanism through which putrescine stimulates AdoMetDC, we investigated conformational changes in rat prostate AdoMetDC in the presence or absence of putrescine. We examined the reactivity of purified rat prostate AdoMetDC to the SH-reagent iodoacet...

Approximately 70% of patients with prostatic cancer develop bone metastases. Metastatic prostate adenocarcinomas are associated with high mortality rates and represent a leading cause of cancer-related deaths among males. To study the host-tumor interactions underlying the predilection of prostate cancer cells for skeletal bone, an experimental model was developed using rat Dunning carcinoma Ma...