Prostate Cancer tagged posts

Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex mechanism

For years, attempts have been made to understand the mechanism behind the proliferation of cancer cells. However, until now it was not known which metabolites cancer cells actually need. A team of researchers from the Institute of Oncology Research (IOR) at the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences)has identified one of the mechanisms behind this process, as published in a recent article in the journal Nature Genetics.

From a theory dating back to the early 20th century by Nobel Prize laureate Otto Warburg, it has been believed that, in order to support their growth, cancer cells needed to increase their glucose consumption, without using mitochondrial metabolism...

A 5yr study shows Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) to treat prostate cancer offers a higher cure rate than more traditional approaches. The study found a 98.6% cure rate with SBRT, a noninvasive form of radiation treatment that involves high-dose radiation beams entering the body through various angles and intersecting at the desired target. It is a state-of-the-art technology that allows for a concentrated dose to reach the tumor while limiting radiation dose to healthy tissue.

“The high cure rate is striking when compared to the reported 5yr cure rates from other approaches like surgery or conventional radiation, which range between 80 – 90%, while the side effects of this treatment are comparable to other types of treatment,” said Dr. Raquibul Hannan...

Encapsulated IPA-3 in sterically stabilized liposomes (SSL). SSL-IPA-3 averaged 139 nm in diameter, polydispersity index (PDI) of 0.05, and a zeta potential of −28.1, neither of which changed over 14 days; however, the PDI increased to 0.139. Analysis of liposomal IPA-3 levels demonstrated good stability, with 70% of IPA-3 remaining after 7 days. SSL-IPA-3 inhibited prostate cancer cell growth in vitro with comparable efficacy to free IPA-3. Excitingly, only a 2 day/week dose of SSL-IPA-3 was needed to inhibit the growth of prostate xenografts in vivo, while a similar dose of free IPA-3 was ineffective. These data demonstrate the development and clinical utility of a novel liposomal formulation for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have cr...

DIAPH3 silencing reduces the population of stable MT and alters MT topology. NB. Inhibition of MT stability arising from DIAPH3 downregulation enhances susceptibility to MT poisons, and that the DIAPH3 network potentially reports taxane sensitivity in human

The biomarker – diaphanous-related formin-3 or DIAPH3 – participates in a protein interaction that makes cells rigid. The study found that when this biomarker is lost or lowered, cells become “deformable,” squeezing through tissue spaces, causing disease growth or progression. This phenomenon is known as an amoeboid phenotype.

ie DIAPH3 interacted with microtubules (MT), and its loss altered several parameters of MT dynamics as well as decreased polarized force generation, contractility, and response to substrate stiffness...