INhibitor of Growth protein 4 (ING4) is a potential chromatin modifier that has been implicated in several cancer-related processes. However, the role of ING4 in prostate cancer (PC) is largely unknown. This study aimed to assess ING4's role in global transcriptional regulation in PC cells to identify potential cellular processes associated with ING4 loss.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany metabolic alterations, including the Warburg effect, occur in cancer cells that influence the tumor microenvironment, including switching to glycolysis from oxidative phosphorylation, using opportunistic modes of nutrient acquisition, and increasing lipid biosynthesis. The altered metabolic landscape of the tumor microenvironment can suppress the infiltration of immune cells and other functions of antitumor immunity through the production of immune-suppressive metabolites. Metabolic dysregulation in cancer cells further affects the expression of cell surface markers, which interferes with immune surveillance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite altered metabolism being an accepted hallmark of cancer, it is still not completely understood which signaling pathways regulate these processes. Given the central role of androgen receptor (AR) signaling in prostate cancer, we hypothesized that AR could promote prostate cancer cell growth in part through increasing glucose uptake via the expression of distinct glucose transporters. Here, we determined that AR directly increased the expression of , the gene that encodes the glucose transporter GLUT12.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDespite the known importance of androgen receptor (AR) signaling in prostate cancer, the processes downstream of AR that drive disease development and progression remain poorly understood. This knowledge gap has thus limited the ability to treat cancer. Here, it is demonstrated that androgens increase the metabolism of glutamine in prostate cancer cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe precise molecular alterations driving castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) are not clearly understood. Using a novel network-based integrative approach, here, we show distinct alterations in the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP) to be critical for CRPC. Expression of HBP enzyme glucosamine-phosphate N-acetyltransferase 1 (GNPNAT1) is found to be significantly decreased in CRPC compared with localized prostate cancer (PCa).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe use of radiation for cancer therapy has expanded and sparked interest in possible synergistic effects by combining it with current immunotherapies. In this review, we present a case of a patient who responded to programmed cell death 1 (PD1) blockade and radiation therapy and discuss possible mechanisms. We provide background on the blockade of the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and PD1 checkpoints and highlight future immune-based therapies that may synergize with radiation, including cytosine-phosphate-guanine vaccines, OX40 agonists, CD40 agonists, regulatory T-cell depletion, and metabolic "rewiring" of cancer cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransmitochondrial cybrids and multiple OMICs approaches were used to understand mitochondrial reprogramming and mitochondria-regulated cancer pathways in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Analysis of cybrids and established breast cancer (BC) cell lines showed that metastatic TNBC maintains high levels of ATP through fatty acid β oxidation (FAO) and activates Src oncoprotein through autophosphorylation at Y419. Manipulation of FAO including the knocking down of carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1A (CPT1) and 2 (CPT2), the rate-limiting proteins of FAO, and analysis of patient-derived xenograft models confirmed the role of mitochondrial FAO in Src activation and metastasis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMetastatic prostate cancer (PCa) is primarily an androgen-dependent disease, which is treated with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). Tumors usually develop resistance (castration-resistant PCa [CRPC]), but remain androgen receptor (AR) dependent. Numerous mechanisms for AR-dependent resistance have been identified including expression of constitutively active AR splice variants lacking the hormone-binding domain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is characterized by aggressiveness and affects 10-20% of breast cancer patients. Since TNBC lacks expression of ERα, PR and HER2, existing targeted treatments are not effective and the survival is poor. In this study, we demonstrate that the tumor suppressor microRNA miR-200a directly regulates the oncogene EPH receptor A2 (EPHA2) and modulates TNBC migration.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPatients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have an overall poor prognosis, which is primarily due to a high metastatic capacity of these tumors. Novel therapeutic approaches to target the signaling pathways that promote metastasis are desirable, in order to improve the outcome for these patients. A loss of function of a microRNA, miR-206, is related to increased metastasis potential in breast cancers but the mechanism is not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroRNAs (miRNAs) play pivotal roles in stem cell biology, differentiation and oncogenesis and are of high interest as potential breast cancer therapeutics. However, their expression and function during normal mammary differentiation and in breast cancer remain to be elucidated. In order to identify which miRNAs are involved in mammary differentiation, we thoroughly investigated miRNA expression during functional differentiation of undifferentiated, stem cell-like, murine mammary cells using two different large-scale approaches followed by qPCR.
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