A major characteristic of prostate cancer is the elevation of serum levels of prostate-specific antigen (hK3) and hK2, which are tumor markers that correlate with advancing stages of disease. Including hK4, these three kallikrein serine proteases are almost exclusively produced by the prostate. Prostate cancer cells have been recently shown to overexpress protease-activated receptors (PAR), whi...

Human prostate cancer displays a high degree of variability in its rate of spread, which could be due largely to differences in the invasive potential of the tumor cells. The degradation of the basal lamina and stromal extracellular matrix is mediated in part by the secretion of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Matrilysin (PUMP-1, MMP-7) and gelatinase A (M(r) 72,000 type IV collagenase, MMP-2...

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), a proinflammatory cytokine, is overexpressed in prostate cancer, but the mechanism by which MIF exerts effects on tumor cells remains undetermined. MIF interacts with its identified membrane receptor, CD74, in association with CD44, resulting in ERK 1/2 activation. Therefore, we hypothesized that increased expression or surface localization of CD74 ...

Glycyrrhetinic acid is an active triterpenoid metabolite of glycyrrhizin abundantly present in licorice roots. Glycyrrhetinic acid exists as α and β stereo-isomeric forms. Both stereo-isomeric forms are known to have anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity. However, the effects and anticancer mechanism of α glycyrrhetinic acid in prostate cancer cells has not yet been evaluated. Therefore, we...

The presence of arachidonate 12-lipoxygenase (12-LOX) potentiates prostate cancer (PCa) progression and therefore may be a good therapeutic target and/or a potential diagnostic predictor for PCa. In this study, we examined the expression of 12-LOX in PCa stem cells (PCa SCs) to test if it can serve as a unique marker and therapeutic target for PCa SCs. To this end, we isolated the cancer stem c...

Mortality and morbidity of prostate cancer result from extracapsular invasion and metastasis. This tumor progression depends on active cell motility. Previous studies have shown that calpain-regulated rear detachment enabling forward locomotion is required for cell migration initiated by growth factor and adhesion receptors. Therefore, we asked whether calpain would be a target for limiting tum...

African-Americans are diagnosed with more aggressive prostate cancers and have worse survival than Caucasians, however a comprehensive understanding of this health disparity remains unclear. To clarify the mechanisms leading to this disparity, we analyzed the potential involvement of miR-34b expression in African-Americans and Caucasians. miR-34b functions as a tumor suppressor and has a multi-...

Gamma-irradiation (gamma-IR) is extensively used in the treatment of hormone-resistant prostate carcinoma. The objective of the present study was to investigate the effects of 60Co gamma-IR on the growth, cell cycle arrest and cell death of the human prostate cancer cell line DU 145. The viability of DU 145 cells was measured by the Trypan blue exclusion assay and the 3(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl...

BACKGROUND Gossypol, a natural polyphenolic compound present in cottonseeds, possesses antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effects in in vivo and in vitro models. There are two enantiomers, (+)-gossypol and (-)-gossypol, the latter being a more potent inhibitor of cancer cell growth. Here, the effect of bovine serum albumin (BSA) and dextran-coated charcoal-treated fetal bovine serum (DCC-FBS)-...