New recommendations in prostate cancer screening and treatment.

Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed nonskin cancer in men, with 233,000 new cases estimated for 2014. Nearly 30,000 deaths are predicted for 2014, second only to lung and bronchial cancer deaths. Early diagnosis is key to improving patient survival rates. Screening efforts have dramatically increased the detection rate, and now, 90% of new diagnoses are caught at the early stage of disease. However, new data are driving controversial changes to screening and treatment recommendations.

Supporting a role for the GTPase Rab7 in prostate cancer progression.

Invasion and subsequent metastasis is the major cause of death from most cancers including prostate cancer. Herein we report on the potential tumor suppressive properties of Rab7, a GTPase that regulates trafficking of lysosomes. The movement of lysosomes to the cell surface in response to environmental cues increases the secretion of proteinases and cell invasion. We determined that Troglitazone and other members of the Thiazolidinedione family inhibit cell-surface directed lysosome trafficking and cathepsin B secretion through a Rab7-dependent mechanism. Moreover, Rab7 shRNA expressing cells were found to be more invasive in vitro and in vivo. Increased invasiveness was accompanied by elevated expression of the c-Met receptor and prolonged downstream signaling, thereby supporting a role for Rab7 as a mediator of signaling down-regulation. Taken together, these results suggested that Rab7 acts as a negative regulator of prostate tumor growth and invasion, providing further evidence for its potential as a tumor suppressor.

Dendritic cell based PSMA immunotherapy for prostate cancer using a CD40-targeted adenovirus vector.

Human prostate tumor vaccine and gene therapy trials using ex vivo methods to prime dendritic cells (DCs) with prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) have been somewhat successful, but to date the lengthy ex vivo manipulation of DCs has limited the widespread clinical utility of this approach. Our goal was to improve upon cancer vaccination with tumor antigens by delivering PSMA via a CD40-targeted adenovirus vector directly to DCs as an efficient means for activation and antigen presentation to T-cells. To test this approach, we developed a mouse model of prostate cancer by generating clonal derivatives of the mouse RM-1 prostate cancer cell line expressing human PSMA (RM-1-PSMA cells). To maximize antigen presentation in target cells, both MHC class I and TAP protein expression was induced in RM-1 cells by transduction with an Ad vector expressing interferon-gamma (Ad5-IFNγ). Administering DCs infected ex vivo with CD40-targeted Ad5-huPSMA, as well as direct intraperitoneal injection of the vector, resulted in high levels of tumor-specific CTL responses against RM-1-PSMA cells pretreated with Ad5-IFNγ as target cells. CD40 targeting significantly improved the therapeutic antitumor efficacy of Ad5-huPSMA encoding PSMA when combined with Ad5-IFNγ in the RM-1-PSMA model. These results suggest that a CD-targeted adenovirus delivering PSMA may be effective clinically for prostate cancer immunotherapy.

Androgen mediated translational and postranslational regulation of IGFBP-2 in androgen-sensitive LNCaP human prostate cancer cells.

The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis is associated intimately with prostate cancer (PCa) development, growth, survival and metastasis. In particular, increased levels of IGFBP-2 expression are associated with advanced PCa, bone metastasis, and the development of castrate resistant PCa. Previously, we reported that androgen treatment decreased intracellular and extracellular IGFBP-2 in the androgen sensitive (AS) PCa cell line, LNCaP. Nonetheless, the mechanism by which androgen treatment decreases expression of IGFBP-2 is not clear. Since elevated IGFBP-2 is associated with a variety of advanced cancers, including PCa, coupled with the fact that hormone ablation is the customary treatment modality for advanced PCa, a complete understanding of the influence of androgens on IGFBP-2 expression is essential. Androgen treatment initially increased steady state IGFBP-2 mRNA levels in LNCaP cells. Extended androgen treatment on LNCaP resulted in a time-dependent decrease in both steady state IGFBP-2 mRNA and protein. Polysomal mRNA analysis showed no difference in IGFBP-2 association with a given fraction; however, Q-PCR revealed less IGFBP-2 mRNA in each androgen-treated fraction. In addition, there was an overall decrease in polysome mRNA after androgen treatment. Extracellular proteolysis of IGFBP-2 was prevented in the presence of serine protease inhibitors. These data indicate that androgen acts via multiple levels to down-regulate IGFBP-2 in LNCaP PCa cells.