Comparison of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-Based 18F-DCFBC PET/CT to Conventional Imaging Modalities for Detection of Hormone-Naïve and Castration-Resistant Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Unlabelled: Conventional imaging modalities (CIMs) have limited sensitivity and specificity for detection of metastatic prostate cancer. We examined the potential of a first-in-class radiofluorinated small-molecule inhibitor of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), N-[N-[(S)-1,3-dicarboxypropyl]carbamoyl]-4-(18)F-fluorobenzyl-l-cysteine ((18)F-DCFBC), to detect metastatic hormone-naïve (HNPC) and castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Methods: Seventeen patients were prospectively enrolled (9 HNPC and 8 CRPC); 16 had CIM evidence of new or progressive metastatic prostate cancer and 1 had high clinical suspicion of metastatic disease.

Multidisciplinary intervention of early, lethal metastatic prostate cancer: Report from the 2015 Coffey-Holden Prostate Cancer Academy Meeting.

Background: The 2015 Coffey-Holden Prostate Cancer Academy Meeting, themed: "Multidisciplinary Intervention of Early, Lethal Metastatic Prostate Cancer," was held in La Jolla, California from June 25 to 28, 2015.

Methods: The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) sponsors an annual, invitation-only, action-tank-structured meeting on a critical topic concerning lethal prostate cancer. The 2015 meeting was attended by 71 basic, translational, and clinical investigators who discussed the current state of the field, major unmet needs, and ideas for addressing earlier diagnosis and treatment of men with lethal prostate cancer for the purpose of extending lives and making progress toward a cure.

Germline Variants in Asporin Vary by Race, Modulate the Tumor Microenvironment, and Are Differentially Associated with Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Purpose: Prostate cancers incite tremendous morbidity upon metastatic growth. We previously identified Asporin (ASPN) as a potential mediator of metastatic progression found within the tumor microenvironment. ASPN contains an aspartic acid (D)-repeat domain and germline polymorphisms in D-repeat-length have been associated with degenerative diseases.

Racial Variations in Prostate Cancer Molecular Subtypes and Androgen Receptor Signaling Reflect Anatomic Tumor Location.

Unlabelled: Prostate cancer (PCa) subtypes based on ETS gene expression have been described. Recent studies suggest there are racial differences in tumor location, with PCa located anteriorly more often among African-American (AA) compared to Caucasian-American (CA) men. In this retrospective analysis of a multi-institutional cohort treated by radical prostatectomy (179 CA, 121 AA), we evaluated associations among molecular subtype, race, anatomic tumor location, and androgen receptor (AR) signaling.

Primary Cryotherapy for High-Grade Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer: Oncologic and Functional Outcomes from the COLD Registry.

Objective: To evaluate the oncological and functional outcomes of primary cryotherapy in men with clinically localized, high-grade prostate cancer.

Subjects And Methods: We included all men with biopsy Gleason score ≥8, localized (cT1-2) disease with a serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≤50 ng/mL from the Cryo On-Line Data (COLD) registry. The primary outcome was biochemical progression free survival (BPFS) as defined by the Phoenix criteria (nadir PSA +2 ng/mL).

Androgen-Regulated SPARCL1 in the Tumor Microenvironment Inhibits Metastatic Progression.

Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death in men due to the subset of cancers that progress to metastasis. Prostate cancers are thought to be hardwired to androgen receptor (AR) signaling, but AR-regulated changes in the prostate that facilitate metastasis remain poorly understood. We previously noted a marked reduction in secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine-like 1 (SPARCL1) expression during invasive phases of androgen-induced prostate growth, suggesting that this may be a novel invasive program governed by AR.

Novel Biomarker Signature That May Predict Aggressive Disease in African American Men With Prostate Cancer.

Purpose: We studied the ethnicity-specific expression of prostate cancer (PC) -associated biomarkers to evaluate whether genetic/biologic factors affect ethnic disparities in PC pathogenesis and disease progression.

Patients And Methods: A total of 154 African American (AA) and 243 European American (EA) patients from four medical centers were matched according to the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment postsurgical score within each institution. The distribution of mRNA expression levels of 20 validated biomarkers reported to be associated with PC initiation and progression was compared with ethnicity using false discovery rate, adjusted Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney, and logistic regression models.

One shot, one kill: the forces delivered by archer fish shots to distant targets.

Archer fishes are skillful hunters of terrestrial prey, firing jets of water that dislodge insects perched on overhead vegetation. In the current investigation, we sought an answer to the question: are distant targets impractical foraging choices? Targets far from the shooter might not be hit with sufficient force to cause them to fall. However, observations from other investigators show that archer fish fire streams of water that travel in a non-ballistic fashion, which is thought to keep on-target forces high, even to targets that are several body lengths distant from the fish.

Tissue-based Genomics Augments Post-prostatectomy Risk Stratification in a Natural History Cohort of Intermediate- and High-Risk Men.

Background: Radical prostatectomy (RP) is a primary treatment option for men with intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer. Although many are effectively cured with local therapy alone, these men are by definition at higher risk of adverse pathologic features and clinical disease recurrence. It has been shown that the Decipher test predicts metastatic progression in cohorts that received adjuvant and salvage therapy following RP.

Characterization of 1577 primary prostate cancers reveals novel biological and clinicopathologic insights into molecular subtypes.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) molecular subtypes have been defined by essentially mutually exclusive events, including ETS gene fusions (most commonly involving ERG) and SPINK1 overexpression. Clinical assessment may aid in disease stratification, complementing available prognostic tests.

Objective: To determine the analytical validity and clinicopatholgic associations of microarray-based molecular subtyping.

Utility of Risk Models in Decision Making After Radical Prostatectomy: Lessons from a Natural History Cohort of Intermediate- and High-Risk Men.

Background: Current guidelines suggest adjuvant radiation therapy for men with adverse pathologic features (APFs) at radical prostatectomy (RP). We examine at-risk men treated only with RP until the time of metastasis.

Objective: To evaluate whether clinicopathologic risk models can help guide postoperative therapeutic decision making.

HES6 promotes prostate cancer aggressiveness independently of Notch signalling.

Notch signalling is implicated in the pathogenesis of a variety of cancers, but its role in prostate cancer is poorly understood. However, selected Notch pathway members are overrepresented in high-grade prostate cancers. We comprehensively profiled Notch pathway components in prostate cells and found prostate cancer-specific up-regulation of NOTCH3 and HES6.

Reclassification rates are higher among African American men than Caucasians on active surveillance.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of reclassification on serial biopsy for Caucasian and African American (AA) men with very low-risk (VLR) prostate cancer enrolled in a large prospective active surveillance (AS) registry.

Methods: The Johns Hopkins AS registry is a prospective observational study that has enrolled 982 men since 1994. Including only men who met all National Comprehensive Cancer Network VLR criteria (clinical stage ≤T1, Gleason score ≤6, prostate-specific antigen [PSA] level <10 ng/mL, PSA density <0.

Racial disparities in oncologic outcomes after radical prostatectomy: long-term follow-up.

Objective: To report race-based outcomes after radical prostatectomy (RP) in a cohort stratified by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) risk category with updated follow-up.

Materials And Methods: Studies describing racial disparities in outcomes after RP are conflicting. We studied 15,993 white and 1634 African American (AA) pretreatment-naïve men who underwent RP at our institution (1992-2013) with complete preoperative and pathologic data.

A human prostatic bacterial isolate alters the prostatic microenvironment and accelerates prostate cancer progression.

Inflammation is associated with several diseases of the prostate including benign enlargement and cancer, but a causal relationship has not been established. Our objective was to characterize the prostate inflammatory microenvironment after infection with a human prostate-derived bacterial strain and to determine the effect of inflammation on prostate cancer progression. To this end, we mimicked typical human prostate infection with retrograde urethral instillation of CP1, a human prostatic isolate of Escherichia coli.

Establishment of a new prostate cancer multidisciplinary clinic: Format and initial experience.

Background: The use of multidisciplinary clinics (MDCs) for outpatient cancer evaluation is increasing. MDCs may vary in format, and data on whether MDCs change prostate cancer (PCa) care are limited. Here we report on the setup and design of a relatively new PCa MDC clinic.

Adenosine transiently modulates stimulated dopamine release in the caudate-putamen via A1 receptors.

Adenosine modulates dopamine in the brain via A1 and A2A receptors, but that modulation has only been characterized on a slow time scale. Recent studies have characterized a rapid signaling mode of adenosine that suggests a possible rapid modulatory role. Here, fast-scan cyclic voltammetry was used to characterize the extent to which transient adenosine changes modulate stimulated dopamine release (5 pulses at 60 Hz) in rat caudate-putamen brain slices.

Polyethylenimine carbon nanotube fiber electrodes for enhanced detection of neurotransmitters.

Carbon nanotube (CNT)-based microelectrodes have been investigated as alternatives to carbon-fiber microelectrodes for the detection of neurotransmitters because they are sensitive, exhibit fast electron transfer kinetics, and are more resistant to surface fouling. Wet spinning CNTs into fibers using a coagulating polymer produces a thin, uniform fiber that can be fabricated into an electrode. CNT fibers formed in poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) have been used as microelectrodes to detect dopamine, serotonin, and hydrogen peroxide.

Sawhorse waveform voltammetry for selective detection of adenosine, ATP, and hydrogen peroxide.

Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) is an electrochemistry technique which allows subsecond detection of neurotransmitters in vivo. Adenosine detection using FSCV has become increasingly popular but can be difficult because of interfering agents which oxidize at or near the same potential as adenosine. Triangle shaped waveforms are traditionally used for FSCV, but modified waveforms have been introduced to maximize analyte sensitivity and provide stability at high scan rates.

Definition of biochemical success following primary whole gland prostate cryoablation.

Purpose: We identified an evidence-based definition of biochemical success following primary whole gland prostate cryoablation.

Materials And Methods: The COLD Registry was queried for a risk stratified cohort of otherwise treatment naïve patients who underwent primary whole gland prostate cryoablation, of whom none had received any type of adjuvant therapy. Minimum followup in all study patients was 5 years.

Complete Genome Sequences of 16 Canadian Strains of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica Serovar Enteritidis.

Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Enteritidis is an important zoonotic food-borne pathogen causing serious human illnesses frequently linked to poultry products. Here, we report fully assembled genome sequences of 16 S.

Outcomes of men with an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level as their sole preoperative intermediate- or high-risk feature.

Objective: To investigate the post-prostatectomy and long-term outcomes of men presenting with an elevated pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level (>10 ng/mL), but otherwise low-risk features (biopsy Gleason score ≤6 and clinical stage ≤T2a).

Patients And Methods: PSA-incongruent intermediate-risk (PII) cases were defined as those patients with preoperative PSA >10 and ≤20 ng/mL but otherwise low-risk features, and PSA-incongruent high-risk (PIH) cases were defined as men with PSA >20 ng/mL but otherwise low-risk features. Our institutional radical prostatectomy database (1992-2012) was queried and the results were stratified into D'Amico low-, intermediate- and high risk, PSA-incongruent intermediate-risk and PSA-incongruent high-risk cases.