RESUMO
The coagulation system is known to play an important role in cancer development and metastasis, but the precise mechanisms by which it does so remain incompletely understood. With this in mind, we provide an updated overview of the effects of TFPI-2, a protease inhibitor, on cancer development and metastasis. TFPI-2 interacts with the thrombin cascade and also employs other mechanisms to suppress cancer growth and dissemination, which include extracellular matrix stabilization, promotion of caspase-mediated cell apoptosis, inhibition of angiogenesis and transduction of intracellular signals. Down-regulation of TFPI-2 expression is well documented in numerous types of neoplasms, mainly via promoter methylation. However, the exact role of TFPI-2 in cancer progression and possible approaches to up-regulate TFPI-2 expression warrant further studies. Strategies to reactivate TFPI-2 may represent a promising direction for future anticancer studies and therapy development.
RESUMO
Understanding prostate response to castration and androgen receptor signaling inhibitors (ARSI) is critical to improving long-term prostate cancer (PCa) patient survival. Here, we use a multi-omics approach on 229,794 single cells to create a mouse single-cell reference atlas for interpreting mouse prostate biology and castration response. Our reference atlas refines single-cell annotations and provides a chromatin context, which, when coupled with mouse lineage tracing, demonstrates that castration-resistant luminal cells are distinct from the pre-existent urethra-proximal stem/progenitor cells. Molecular pathway analysis and therapeutic studies further implicate AP1 (JUN/FOS), WNT/ß-catenin, FOXQ1, NF-κB, and JAK/STAT pathways as major drivers of castration-resistant luminal populations with relevance to human PCa. Our datasets, which can be explored through an interactive portal (https://visportal.roswellpark.org/data/tang/), can aid in developing combination treatments with ARSI for advanced PCa patients.