High consumption of soybean products, such as phytoestrogens, has been hypothesized to contribute to a reduced incidence of prostate cancer in Southeast Asian people, although there have been inconsistent results among studies. Human LNCaP cells, extensively used as a model for androgen-dependent prostate tumor, express the androgen receptor (AR) mutant T877A promiscuously transactivated by est...

Amultitude of substances are present in small amounts in plants that can affect mammalian biological processes relevant to cardiovascular disease and other common human diseases.1 However, few of the thousands of bioactive molecules have been studied well in cells or animals, and still fewer in humans. This slim evidence base notwithstanding, a staggering array of these compounds are available ...

Oligonucleotide microarrays were used to analyse gene expression profiles in human ZR75-1 breast cancer cells in the presence of 17beta-oestradiol and oestrogen antagonists. Differential gene expression of a number of genes was confirmed by quantitative RNA analysis. In addition to known oestrogen-responsive genes, an appreciable number of novel targets were identified, including growth factors...

Phytoestrogens derived from soybeans reverse endothelial dysfunction in a number of animal models of systemic vascular disease. Based on these studies, we hypothesized that phytoestrogens would reverse chronic hypoxia-induced endothelial dysfunction in rat pulmonary arteries. To test this hypothesis we examined the effect of genistein, the major phytoestrogen found in soybeans, on carbachol-ind...

Estrogens play essential roles in the progression of mammary and prostatic diseases. The transcriptional effects of estrogens are transduced by two estrogen receptors, ERα and ERβ, which elicit opposing roles in regulating proliferation: ERα is proliferative while ERβ is anti-proliferative. Exogenous expression of ERβ in ERα-positive cancer cell lines inhibits cell proliferation in response to ...

Background:  Natural Killer cells express killer inhibitory receptors specific for HLA-class I molecules.  These receptors could induce signals that determine NK cells ability to mediate cytotoxicity.  Purified soluble form of HLA class I molecules (sHLA) could bind to NK cell receptors and down-regulate the NK killer function. Objective:  To evaluate the influence of sHLA and two monoclonal an...

Prostate cancer is an important public health problem in the United States. Seven phytoestrogens found in common herbal products were screened for estrogen receptor binding and growth inhibition of androgen-insensitive (PC-3) and androgen-sensitive (LNCaP) human prostate tumor cells. In a competitive 3H-estradiol ligand binding assay using mouse uterine cytosol, 2.5 M quercetin, baicalein, geni...