Integration of patient and public involvement in a doctoral research study using the research cycle.

Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) in research is widely acknowledged as essential to achieving successful and impactful research. Despite this acknowledgement, there are limited reports on how to approach and apply meaningful PPI throughout the research cycle and how to address challenges for researchers such as doctoral students, particularly when undertaking research on sensitive topics. This paper provides insights and examples for researchers new to PPI, on the impact of active PPI and recommendations for building and developing a PPI group in a paediatric focused doctoral research study with bereaved parents and carers.

Targeting a STING agonist to perivascular macrophages in prostate tumors delays resistance to androgen deprivation therapy.

Background: Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a front-line treatment for prostate cancer. In some men, their tumors can become refractory leading to the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). This causes tumors to regrow and metastasize, despite ongoing treatment, and impacts negatively on patient survival.

Development and Characterisation of a New Patient-Derived Xenograft Model of AR-Negative Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.

As the treatment landscape for prostate cancer gradually evolves, the frequency of treatment-induced neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) and double-negative prostate cancer (DNPC) that is deficient for androgen receptor (AR) and neuroendocrine (NE) markers has increased. These prostate cancer subtypes are typically refractory to AR-directed therapies and exhibit poor clinical outcomes. Only a small range of NEPC/DNPC models exist, limiting our molecular understanding of this disease and hindering our ability to perform preclinical trials exploring novel therapies to treat NEPC/DNPC that are urgently needed in the clinic.

PLEKHS1 drives PI3Ks and remodels pathway homeostasis in PTEN-null prostate.

The PIP/PI3K network is a central regulator of metabolism and is frequently activated in cancer, commonly by loss of the PIP/PI(3,4)P phosphatase, PTEN. Despite huge research investment, the drivers of the PI3K network in normal tissues and how they adapt to overactivation are unclear. We find that in healthy mouse prostate PI3K activity is driven by RTK/IRS signaling and constrained by pathway feedback.

Cancer-Associated Fibroblast Heterogeneity, Activation and Function: Implications for Prostate Cancer.

The continuous remodeling of the tumor microenvironment (TME) during prostate tumorigenesis is emerging as a critical event that facilitates cancer growth, progression and drug-resistance. Recent advances have identified extensive communication networks that enable tumor-stroma cross-talk, and emphasized the functional importance of diverse, heterogeneous stromal fibroblast populations during malignant growth. Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are a vital component of the TME, which mediate key oncogenic events including angiogenesis, immunosuppression, metastatic progression and therapeutic resistance, thus presenting an attractive therapeutic target.

Exploring the Wnt Pathway as a Therapeutic Target for Prostate Cancer.

Aberrant activation of the Wnt pathway is emerging as a frequent event during prostate cancer that can facilitate tumor formation, progression, and therapeutic resistance. Recent discoveries indicate that targeting the Wnt pathway to treat prostate cancer may be efficacious. However, the functional consequence of activating the Wnt pathway during the different stages of prostate cancer progression remains unclear.

Parent values and preferences underpinning treatment decision making in poor prognosis childhood cancer: a scoping review protocol.

Introduction: Parents of a child with cancer want to be involved in making treatment decisions for their child. Underpinning and informing these decisions are parents' individual values and preferences. Parents of a child who has a poor prognosis cancer and who subsequently dies can experience decisional regret.

The PTEN Conundrum: How to Target PTEN-Deficient Prostate Cancer.

Loss of the tumor suppressor phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome 10 (PTEN), which negatively regulates the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway, is strongly linked to advanced prostate cancer progression and poor clinical outcome. Accordingly, several therapeutic approaches are currently being explored to combat PTEN-deficient tumors. These include classical inhibition of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling network, as well as new approaches that restore PTEN function, or target PTEN regulation of chromosome stability, DNA damage repair and the tumor microenvironment.

The PI3K-AKT-mTOR Pathway and Prostate Cancer: At the Crossroads of AR, MAPK, and WNT Signaling.

Oncogenic activation of the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K), protein kinase B (PKB/AKT), and mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is a frequent event in prostate cancer that facilitates tumor formation, disease progression and therapeutic resistance. Recent discoveries indicate that the complex crosstalk between the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway and multiple interacting cell signaling cascades can further promote prostate cancer progression and influence the sensitivity of prostate cancer cells to PI3K-AKT-mTOR-targeted therapies being explored in the clinic, as well as standard treatment approaches such as androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT). However, the full extent of the PI3K-AKT-mTOR signaling network during prostate tumorigenesis, invasive progression and disease recurrence remains to be determined.

Sorafenib in pediatric hepatocellular carcinoma from a clinician perspective.

Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) is a rare tumor in children and normally carries poor outcomes. The most frequently employed chemotherapy regimen includes cisplatin and doxorubicin (PLADO), but this combination offers limited efficacy. Sorafenib is a multi-tyrosine kinase inhibitor which, following positive studies in adults with HCC, has begun to be introduced in conjunction with PLADO in pediatric oncology with some encouraging results.

Correction: Lkb1 Deficiency Alters Goblet and Paneth Cell Differentiation in the Small Intestine.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.