Publications by authors named "Laura E Pascal"

Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a condition generally associated with advanced age in men that can be accompanied by bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) including intermittency, weak stream, straining, urgency, frequency, and incomplete bladder voiding. Pharmacotherapies for LUTS/BPH include alpha-blockers, which relax prostatic and urethral smooth muscle and 5ɑ-reductase inhibitors such as finasteride, which can block conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone thereby reducing prostate volume. Celecoxib is a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor that reduces inflammation and has shown some promise in reducing prostatic inflammation and alleviating LUTS for some men with histological BPH.

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Background: Our research focused on the assessment of the impact of systemic inhibition of Trk receptors, which bind to nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), on bladder hypersensitivity in two distinct rodent models of prostatic inflammation (PI).

Methods: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups (n = 6 each): the control group (no PI, vehicle administration), the untreated group (PI, vehicle administration), and the treated group (PI, nonselective Trk inhibitor, GNF 5837, administration). PI in rats was induced by a intraprostatic injection of 5% formalin.

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Background: Older men frequently develop lower urinary tract symptoms attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH). Risk factors for LUTS/BPH include sedentary lifestyle, anxiety/depression, obesity, and frailty, which all increase with age. Although physical exercise may reduce the progression and/or severity of LUTS/BPH, the age-related mechanisms responsible remain unknown.

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Background: Age is the greatest risk factor for lower urinary tract symptoms attributed to benign prostatic hyperplasia (LUTS/BPH). Although LUTS/BPH can be managed with pharmacotherapy, treatment failure has been putatively attributed to numerous pathological features of BPH (eg, prostatic fibrosis, inflammation). Mitochondrial dysfunction is a hallmark of aging; however, its impact on the pathological features of BPH remains unknown.

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Article Synopsis
  • Prostate cancer risk factors include age, race, and genetic variants, with the CREBRF gene showing notable alterations in Pacific Islanders, a group with high incidence rates.
  • Analysis revealed that 4.05% of prostate tumors had likely damaging CREBRF mutations, which correlated to significantly shorter survival rates—41.23 months for affected patients versus 131 months for those without.
  • In mice lacking CREBRF, there was decreased prostate cell growth and increased cell death, along with altered levels of specific circulating proteins, indicating CREBRF may be important for maintaining prostate health and regulating cancer progression.
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Background: Prostatic inflammation is closely linked to the development and progression of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Clinical studies of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, which inhibit cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), targeting prostate inflammation patients with symptomatic BPH have demonstrated conflicting results, with some studies demonstrating symptom improvement and others showing no impact. Thus, understanding the role of the cyclooxygenases in BPH and prostatic inflammation is important.

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Ivermectin is a widely used antiparasitic drug and shows promising anticancer activity in various cancer types. Although multiple signaling pathways modulated by ivermectin have been identified in tumor cells, few studies have focused on the exact target of ivermectin. Herein, we report the pharmacological effects and targets of ivermectin in prostate cancer.

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Decreased E-cadherin immunostaining is frequently observed in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and was recently correlated with increased inflammation in aging prostate. Homozygous E-cadherin deletion in the murine prostate results in prostate inflammation and bladder overactivity at 6 months of age. However, this model is limited in that while E-cadherin is significantly reduced in BPH, it is not completely lost; BPH is also strongly associated with advanced age and is infrequent in young men.

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Identification of novel androgen receptor (AR) antagonists may lead to urgently needed new treatments for patients with prostate cancer resistant to current AR antagonists. AR is presently the main target for treating prostate cancer. Clinically approved AR antagonists compete with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) for binding to the ligand-binding domain (LBD) of AR, and patients eventually develop resistance to these treatments.

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This mini-review covers the classical model of androgen receptor (AR) nucleocytoplasmic trafficking and provides an overview of new data that updates the existing paradigm. The classical model of androgen receptor trafficking involves AR translocating to the nucleus in the presence of androgens and subsequently being exported back to the cytoplasm following the withdrawal of androgens. New data challenges and updates the fate of nuclear AR.

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Introduction And Objective: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a prostatic disease that is significantly associated with aging. However, it is not well understood how aging contributes to BPH pathogenesis. Several factors associated with an increased risk of BPH are also associated with increasing age, including chronic inflammation and declining epithelial barrier function.

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Introduction And Objective: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related disease that is frequently associated with chronic prostatic inflammation. In previous studies, we detected the presence of PSA protein in the stroma of BPH nodules and down-regulation of junction proteins E-cadherin and claudin-1. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging showed a decrease in tight junctions suggesting the luminal epithelial barrier in BPH tissues may be compromised.

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Nuclear localization of the androgen receptor (AR) is necessary for its activation as a transcription factor. Defining the mechanisms regulating AR nuclear localization in androgen-sensitive cells and how these mechanisms are dysregulated in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) cells is fundamentally important and clinically relevant. According to the classical model of AR intracellular trafficking, androgens induce AR nuclear import and androgen withdrawal causes AR nuclear export.

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Abnormal intraglandular stromal-epithelial interactions have been known as a main key contributing factor for development of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH). However, the underlying mechanism for the dysregulated intercellular communication remains unclear. In this study we compared the proteomic profiles of hyperplastic tissue with adjacent normal tissue of BPH and identified Rab27B small GTPase, a key regulator of exocytosis, as a protein that was overexpressed in the epithelium of BPH tissue.

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Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related debilitating prostatic disease that is frequently associated with prostatic inflammation and bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Animal models have shown that formalin- and bacterial-induced prostatic inflammation can induce bladder dysfunction; however, the underlying mechanisms contributing to prostatic inflammation in BPH and bladder dysfunction are not clear. We previously reported that E-cadherin expression in BPH is downregulated in hyperplastic nodules compared with expression in adjacent normal tissues.

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Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is arguably the most common disease in aging men. Although the etiology is not well understood, chronic prostatic inflammation is thought to play an important role in BPH initiation and progression. Our recent studies suggest that the prostatic epithelial barrier is compromised in glandular BPH tissues.

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Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is an age-related disease characterized by nonmalignant abnormal growth of the prostate, which is also frequently associated with lower urinary tract symptoms. The prostate with BPH exhibits enhanced growth not only in the epithelium but also in the stroma, and stromal-epithelial interactions are thought to play an important role in BPH pathogenesis. However, our understanding of the mechanisms of stromal-epithelial interactions in the development and progression of BPH is very limited.

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Background: Elongation factor for RNA polymerase II 2 (ELL2) was reported as a putative tumor suppressor in the prostate. ELL2 is frequently down-regulated in prostatic adenocarcinoma specimens, and loss of ELL2 induced murine prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia and enhanced AR-positive prostate cancer cell proliferation. However, the ELL2 gene appears to be amplified in AR-negative neuroendocrine prostate tumors, suggesting a potential oncogenic role for ELL2 in AR-negative prostate cancer cells.

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Defining the cell of origin for prostatic carcinogenesis is fundamentally important for understanding the mechanisms leading to prostate cancer. Lineage tracing studies have demonstrated that luminal epithelial cells are capable of self-replication in multiple organs, including the adult murine prostate, and cell of prostate cancer origin studies have shown that while both the luminal and basal murine prostate epithelial cells are capable of neoplastic transformation, luminal cells are more efficient as the origin of prostate cancer. ELL-associated factor 2 (EAF2) is an androgen responsive tumor suppressive protein expressed by prostate luminal epithelial cells that is frequently down-regulated in primary prostate tumors.

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Our recent studies identifying the presence of luminal secretory protein PSA in the stroma, decreased E-cadherin expression, and reduced number of tight junction kiss points in benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) tissues suggest that epithelial barrier permeability is increased in BPH. However, the cause of increased epithelial permeability in BPH is unclear. Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) has been reported to be up-regulated in clinical BPH specimens and TGF-β1 overexpression induced fibrosis and inflammation in a murine model.

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Background: Signal regulatory protein β1 (SIRPB1) is a signal regulatory protein member of the immunoglobulin superfamily and is capable of modulating receptor tyrosine kinase-coupled signaling. Copy number variations at the SIRPB1 locus were previously reported to associate with prostate cancer aggressiveness in patients, however, the role of SIRPB1 in prostate carcinogenesis is unknown.

Methods: Fluorescence in situ hybridization and laser-capture microdissection coupled with quantitative polymerase chain reaction was utilized to determine SIRPB1 gene amplification and messenger RNA expression in prostate cancer specimens.

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Background: Castration-resistant prostate cancer can develop resistance to enzalutamide because of androgen receptor (AR) point mutations, AR overexpression, constitutively active AR splice variants, and/or elevated intratumoral androgen synthesis. The point mutation AR was reported to be stimulated, instead of inhibited, by enzalutamide, thus contributing to enzalutamide resistance. We have recently developed JJ-450 as a novel AR antagonist with the potential to treat enzalutamide-resistant castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

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Reactivation of androgen receptor (AR) appears to be the major mechanism driving the resistance of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) to second-generation antiandrogens and involves AR overexpression, AR mutation, and/or expression of AR splice variants lacking ligand-binding domain. There is a need for novel small molecules targeting AR, particularly those also targeting AR splice variants such as ARv7. A high-throughput/high-content screen was previously reported that led to the discovery of a novel lead compound, 2-(((3,5-dimethylisoxazol-4-yl)methyl)thio)-1-(4-(2,3-dimethylphenyl)piperazin-1-yl)ethan-1-one (IMTPPE), capable of inhibiting nuclear AR level and activity in CRPC cells, including those resistant to enzalutamide.

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ELL2 is a potential tumor suppressor in prostate cancer. ELL2 knockout in mice induced mPIN, the putative precursor of prostate cancer and ELL2 knockdown enhanced proliferation in cultured prostate cancer cells. To explore the mechanism of ELL2 action in prostate cancer, we investigated the role of Birc3, an apoptosis inhibitor, in prostate cancer cells and the regulation of its expression by ELL2.

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