A novel three serum phospholipid panel differentiates normal individuals from those with prostate cancer.

Background: The results of prostate specific antigen (PSA) and digital rectal examination (DRE) screenings lead to both under and over treatment of prostate cancer (PCa). As such, there is an urgent need for the identification and evaluation of new markers for early diagnosis and disease prognosis. Studies have shown a link between PCa, lipids and lipid metabolism.

Critical role for reactive oxygen species in apoptosis induction and cell migration inhibition by diallyl trisulfide, a cancer chemopreventive component of garlic.

Diallyl trisulfide (DATS) is a structurally simple but biologically active constituent of processed garlic with in vivo activity against chemically induced as well as oncogene-driven cancer in experimental rodents. This study offers novel insights into the mechanisms underlying anticancer effects of DATS using human breast cancer cells as a model. Exposure of human breast cancer cells (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) and a cell line derived from spontaneously developing mammary tumor of a transgenic mouse (BRI-JM04) to DATS resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell viability that was accompanied by apoptosis induction.

Notch activation is dispensable for D, L-sulforaphane-mediated inhibition of human prostate cancer cell migration.

D, L-Sulforaphane (SFN), a synthetic racemic analog of broccoli constituent L-sulforaphane, is a highly promising cancer chemopreventive agent with in vivo efficacy against chemically-induced as well as oncogene-driven cancer in preclinical rodent models. Cancer chemopreventive effect of SFN is characterized by G(2)/M phase cell cycle arrest, apoptosis induction, and inhibition of cell migration and invasion. Moreover, SFN inhibits multiple oncogenic signaling pathways often hyperactive in human cancers, including nuclear factor-κB, Akt, signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, and androgen receptor.

Biomarkers of phenethyl isothiocyanate-mediated mammary cancer chemoprevention in a clinically relevant mouse model.

Background: Phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC) is a natural plant compound with chemopreventative potential against some cancers and the ability to induce apoptosis in breast cancer cells.

Methods: Female mouse mammary tumor virus-neu mice were fed a control AIN-76A diet (n = 35) or the same diet supplemented with 3 µmol PEITC/g diet (n = 33) for 29 weeks, at which time they were killed. Breast tissue sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin for histopathological assessments, and incidence and size of macroscopic mammary tumors were assessed.

Plasmid-cured Chlamydia caviae activates TLR2-dependent signaling and retains virulence in the guinea pig model of genital tract infection.

Loss of the conserved "cryptic" plasmid from C. trachomatis and C. muridarum is pleiotropic, resulting in reduced innate inflammatory activation via TLR2, glycogen accumulation and infectivity.

Interleukin-17 contributes to generation of Th1 immunity and neutrophil recruitment during Chlamydia muridarum genital tract infection but is not required for macrophage influx or normal resolution of infection.

Interleukin 17 (IL-17) contributes to development of Th1 immunity and neutrophil influx during Chlamydia muridarum pulmonary infection, but its role during C. muridarum genital tract infection has not been described. We detected similar numbers of Chlamydia-specific Th17 and Th1 cells in iliac nodes of wild-type mice early during genital C.

Infectivity acts as in vivo selection for maintenance of the chlamydial cryptic plasmid.

Chlamydia trachomatis contains a conserved ∼7.5-kb plasmid. Loss of the plasmid results in reduced glycogen accumulation, failure to activate TLR2, and reduced infectivity.

Diallyl trisulfide inhibits activation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 in prostate cancer cells in culture and in vivo.

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) is an oncogenic transcription factor implicated in prostate carcinogenesis. The present study shows that diallyl trisulfide (DATS), a promising cancer-chemopreventive constituent of processed garlic, inhibits phosphorylation of STAT3 in prostate cancer cells in culture and in vivo. Exposure of DU145 and LNCaP human prostate cancer cells to growth-suppressive and pharmacologically relevant concentrations of DATS (20 and 40 μmol/L) resulted in suppression of constitutive (DU145) as well as interleukin-6 (IL-6)-induced (LNCaP) phosphorylation of STAT3 (Tyr(705)), which correlated with inhibition of Janus-activated kinase 2 phosphorylation.