New therapies for prostate cancer?

摘要

Worldwide, over 600,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year and prostate cancer remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality. Despite recent advances in the early detection of prostate cancer and less invasive radiotherapies, such as cyberknife, prostate cancer remains a significant health risk in men. Mechanistically, the increased expression of proto-oncogenes, and the activation of cell cycle regulatory genes, in combination with compromised tumor suppressor activity are as common in prostate cancer as it is in other malignancies, such as breast cancer. Major differences exist, however, in the ability to clinically intervene. Loss-of-function events have been demonstrated to occur in prostate cancer for p27~(KIPI), p16~(INK4A) and the reti-noblastoma protein, Rb. Perhaps the most frequently compromised prostate cancer tumor suppressor gene is the lipid phosphatase and inhibitor of P13 kinase signaling, PTEN.