Dataset Information

MYC and Prostate Cancer.

ABSTRACT: Prostate cancer, the majority of which is adenocarcinoma, is the most common epithelial cancer affecting a majority of elderly men in Western nations. Its manifestation, however, varies from clinically asymptomatic insidious neoplasms that progress slowly and do not threaten life to one that is highly aggressive with a propensity for metastatic spread and lethality if not treated in time. A number of somatic genetic and epigenetic alterations occur in prostate cancer cells. Some of these changes, such as loss of the tumor suppressors PTEN and p53, are linked to disease progression. Others, such as ETS gene fusions, appear to be linked more with early phases of the disease, such as invasion. Alterations in chromosome 8q24 in the region of MYC have also been linked to disease aggressiveness for many years. However, a number of recent studies in human tissues have indicated that MYC appears to be activated at the earliest phases of prostate cancer (e.g., in tumor-initiating cells) in prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, a key precursor lesion to invasive prostatic adenocarcinoma. The initiation and early progression of prostate cancer can be recapitulated in genetically engineered mouse models, permitting a richer understanding of the cause and effects of loss of tumor suppressors and activation of MYC. The combination of studies using human tissues and mouse models paints an emerging molecular picture of prostate cancer development and early progression. This picture reveals that MYC contributes to disease initiation and progression by stimulating an embryonic stem cell-like signature characterized by an enrichment of genes involved in ribosome biogenesis and by repressing differentiation. These insights pave the way to potential novel therapeutic concepts based on MYC biology.

SUBMITTER: Koh CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3092219 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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MYC and Prostate Cancer.

Koh Cheryl M CM Bieberich Charles J CJ Dang Chi V CV Nelson William G WG Yegnasubramanian Srinivasan S De Marzo Angelo M AM

Genes & cancer 20100601 6

Prostate cancer, the majority of which is adenocarcinoma, is the most common epithelial cancer affecting a majority of elderly men in Western nations. Its manifestation, however, varies from clinically asymptomatic insidious neoplasms that progress slowly and do not threaten life to one that is highly aggressive with a propensity for metastatic spread and lethality if not treated in time. A number of somatic genetic and epigenetic alterations occur in prostate cancer cells. Some of these changes ...[more]

PMID: 21779461

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Project description:Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in American men and many PCa patients develop skeletal metastasis. Current treatment modalities for metastatic PCa are mostly palliative with poor prognosis. Epidemiological studies indicated that patients receiving the diabetic drug metformin have lower PCa risk and better prognosis, suggesting that metformin may have antineoplastic effects. The mechanism by which metformin acts as chemopreventive agent to impede PCa initiation and progression is unknown. The amplification of c-MYC oncogene plays a key role in early prostate epithelia cell transformation and PCa growth. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of metformin on c-myc expression and PCa progression. Our results demonstrated that (i) in Hi-Myc mice that display murine prostate neoplasia and highly resemble the progression of human prostate tumors, metformin attenuated the development of prostate intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN, the precancerous lesion of prostate) and PCa lesions. (ii) Metformin reduced c-myc protein levels in vivo and in vitro. In Myc-CaP mouse PCa cells, metformin decreased c-myc protein levels by at least 50%. (iii) Metformin selectively inhibited the growth of PCa cells by stimulating cell cycle arrest and apoptosis without affecting the growth of normal prostatic epithelial cells (RWPE-1). (iv) Reduced PIN formation by metformin was associated with reduced levels of androgen receptor and proliferation marker Ki-67 in Hi-Myc mouse prostate glands. Our novel findings suggest that by downregulating c-myc, metformin can act as a chemopreventive agent to restrict prostatic neoplasia initiation and transformation.Metformin, an old antidiabetes drug, may inhibit prostate intraepithelial neoplasia transforming to cancer lesion via reducing c-MYC, an 'old' overexpressed oncogene. This study explores chemopreventive efficacy of metformin in prostate cancer and its link to cMYC in vitro and in vivo.

Dataset Information

MYC and Prostate Cancer.

Publications

MYC and Prostate Cancer.

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