Vitamin D(3) cryosensitization increases prostate cancer susceptibility to cryoablation via mitochondrial-mediated apoptosis and necrosis.

Objectives: To investigate the effect and molecular mechanisms of action of Vitamin D(3) (VD(3) ) as a neo-adjunctive agent before cryosurgery in an effort to increase treatment efficacy for prostate cancer (CaP). To eliminate the potential for disease recurrence that exists at the periphery of the freeze lesion, where temperatures may be insufficient to destroy both androgen-sensitive (AS) and androgen-insensitive (AI) CaP.

Methods: Human CaP cells, LNCaP, were each genetically altered to express the AS and AI phenotypes and subjected to VD(3) treatment and freezing in an in vitro and tissue-engineered model.

Cryoablative response of prostate cancer cells is influenced by androgen receptor expression.

Objective: To investigate in prostate cancer cells the consequences of androgen-insensitivity (AI) development on the cellular and molecular responses to freezing, as a challenge in prostate cancer treatment occurs when the androgen-sensitive (AS) phenotype switches to an AI phenotype, the latter of which is often refractory to many therapies.

Materials And Methods: PC-3 (AI) and LNCaP (AS) were each genetically altered to express the opposite phenotype and subjected to an in vitro freezing model. Viability, caspase inhibitor and Western blot studies were used to determine the basis of the differential responses of AI and AS cells.

Cryosurgical technique: assessment of the fundamental variables using human prostate cancer model systems.

Cryosurgery offers a promising therapeutic alternative for the treatment of prostate cancer. While often successful, complete cryoablation of cancerous tissues sometimes fails due to technical challenges. Factors such as the end temperature, cooling rate, duration of the freezing episode, and repetition of the freezing cycle have been reported to influence cryosurgical outcome.