Identification of pyrimidine metabolism-based molecular subtypes and prognostic signature to predict immune landscape and guide clinical treatment in prostate cancer.

Background: We previously described the enrichment of plasma exosome metabolites in CRPC, PCa, and TFC cohorts, and found significant differences in pyrimidine metabolites. The PMGs is associated with the clinical prognosis of several cancers, but its biological role in PCa is still unclear.

Methods: This study extracted 98 reliable PMGs, and analyzed their somatic mutations, expression levels, and prognostic significance.

OCTN2 expression and function in the Sertoli cells of testes from patients with non-obstructive azoospermia.

Background: Among couples, male factors account for approximately 50% of infertility cases, with nonobstructive azoospermia (NOA) representing one of the most clinically common and severe categories of male infertility, affecting approximately 10-15% of patients. Currently, L-carnitine is clinically used to improve spermatogenesis by regulating Sertoli cell function. Multiple clinical trials have described the efficacy of L-carnitine in treating NOA.

Croconaine-based NIR-II fluorescence imaging-guided tumor photothermal therapy induces long-term antitumor immune memory.

Photothermal therapy (PTT) for cancers guided by optical imaging has recently shown great potential for precise diagnosis and efficient therapy. The second near-infrared window (NIR-II, 1000-1700 nm) fluorescence imaging (FLI) is highly desirable owing to its good spatial and temporal resolution, deep tissue penetration, and negligible tissue toxicity. Organic small molecules are attractive as imaging and treatment agents in biomedical research because of their low toxicity, fast clearance rate, diverse structures, ease of modification, and excellent biocompatibility.

NAT10 Promotes Prostate Cancer Growth and Metastasis by Acetylating mRNAs of HMGA1 and KRT8.

N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) is essential for the development and migration of tumor cells. According to earlier research, N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) can increase messenger RNAs (mRNAs) stability by catalyzing the synthesis of ac4C. However, little is known about NAT10 expression and its role in the acetylation modifications in prostate cancer (PCa).

Identification of a basement membrane gene signature for predicting prognosis and estimating the tumor immune microenvironment in prostate cancer.

Basement membrane plays an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis, which is closely related to prognosis. However, the prognostic value and biology of basement membrane genes (BMGs) in prostate cancer (PCa) remain unknown. In the TCGA training set, we used differentially expressed gene analysis, protein-protein interaction networks, univariate and multivariate Cox regression, and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression to construct a basement membrane-related risk model (BMRM) and validated its effectiveness in the MSKCC validation set.

Engineered extracellular vesicles: A new approach for targeted therapy of tumors and overcoming drug resistance.

Targeted delivery of anti-tumor drugs and overcoming drug resistance in malignant tumor cells remain significant clinical challenges. However, there are only few effective methods to address these issues. Extracellular vesicles (EVs), actively secreted by cells, play a crucial role in intercellular information transmission and cargo transportation.

Targeted delivery of organic small-molecule photothermal materials with engineered extracellular vesicles for imaging-guided tumor photothermal therapy.

Imaging-guided photothermal therapy (PTT) for cancers recently gathered increasing focus thanks to its precise diagnosis and potent therapeutic effectiveness. Croconaine (CR) dyes demonstrate potential in expanding utility for near infrared (NIR) dyes in bio-imaging/theranostics. However, reports on CR dyes for PTT are scarce most likely due to the short of the efficacious delivery strategies to achieve specific accumulation in diseased tissues to induce PTT.

SETD4 inhibits prostate cancer development by promoting H3K27me3-mediated NUPR1 transcriptional repression and cell cycle arrest.

The suppressor of variegation enhancer of zeste-trithorax (SET) domain methyltransferases have been reported to function as key regulators in multiple tumor types by catalyzing histone lysine methylation. Nevertheless, our understanding on the role of these lysine methyltransferases, including SETD4, in prostate cancer (PCa) remains limited. Hence, the specific role of SETD4 in PCa was investigated in this study.

Glycine Decarboxylase (GLDC) Plays a Crucial Role in Regulating Energy Metabolism, Invasion, Metastasis and Immune Escape for Prostate Cancer.

Glycine decarboxylase (GLDC) is one of the core enzymes for glycine metabolism and its biological roles in prostate cancer (PCa) are unclear. First, we found that GLDC plays a central role in glycolysis in 540 TCGA PCa patients. Subsequently, a metabolomic microarray showed that GLDC enhanced aerobic glycolysis in PCa cells, and GLDC and its enzyme activity enhanced glucose uptake, lactate production and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity in PCa cells.

Current therapy and drug resistance in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), especially metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) is one of the most prevalent malignancies and main cause of cancer-related death among men in the world. In addition, it is very difficult for clinical treatment because of the natural or acquired drug resistance of CRPC. Mechanisms of drug resistance are extremely complicated and how to overcome it remains an urgent clinical problem to be solved.

Alterations of plasma exosomal proteins and motabolies are associated with the progression of castration-resistant prostate cancer.

Background: Current diagnosis tools for prostate cancer (PCa) such as serum PSA detection and prostate biopsy cannot distinguish dormant tumors from invasive malignancies, either be used as prognosis marker for castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), the lethal stage of PCa patients. Exosomes have been widely investigated as promising biomarkers for various diseases. We aim to characterize the proteomic and metabolomic profile of exosomes and to evaluate their potential value for the diagnosis of PCa, especially CRPC.

Plasma cell subtypes analyzed using artificial intelligence algorithm for predicting biochemical recurrence, immune escape potential, and immunotherapy response of prostate cancer.

Background: Plasma cells as an important component of immune microenvironment plays a crucial role in immune escape and are closely related to immune therapy response. However, its role for prostate cancer is rarely understood. In this study, we intend to investigate the value of a new plasma cell molecular subtype for predicting the biochemical recurrence, immune escape and immunotherapy response in prostate cancer.

The circSPON2/miR-331-3p axis regulates PRMT5, an epigenetic regulator of CAMK2N1 transcription and prostate cancer progression.

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed malignancy in men, and its mechanism remains poorly understood. Therefore, it is urgent to discover potential novel diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets that can potentially facilitate the development of efficient anticancer strategies.

Methods: A series of functional in vitro and in vivo experiments were conducted to evaluate the biological behaviors of PCa cells.

Abiraterone, Orteronel, Enzalutamide and Docetaxel: Sequential or Combined Therapy?

To summarize the current therapeutic status using chemotherapeutic agent docetaxel and endocrine therapeutic agents (ARAT, abiraterone, orteronel or enzalutamide) for the treatment of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), including sequential therapy and combined therapy, to promote the consensus on the optimal regimen for achieving superior treatment efficacy. Through literature search in PubMed, articles with the following relevant keywords were collected and anlyzed: CRPC, abiraterone, orteronel and enzalutamide, median survival, overall survival, prostate specific antigen (PSA), PSA response rate and median radiologic progression-free survival. Fifty-eight articles were obtained and analyzed in this review.

Identification of UAP1L1 as a critical factor for prostate cancer and underlying molecular mechanism in tumorigenicity.

Background: Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, and some new target genes are needed to predict the risk of prostate cancer progression and the treatment.

Methods: In this study, the effects of UAP1L1 (UAP1-like-1) on prostate cancer were investigated by detecting the proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of prostate cancer cells in vitro using MTT, wound healing, Transwell and flow cytometry assay, and the tumor growth in vivo. The downstream genes and pathways of UAP1L1 were explored using Ingenuity Pathway Analysis (IPA), and screened by qRT-PCR and western blot.

[Progress in the studies of prostate biopsy methods].

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common malignancies in aged males, ranking the second in the incidence of malignant tumors in men. Early diagnosis is essential, as advanced PCa is quite difficult to be managed, especially when it becomes castration-resistant or neuroendocrine PCa. Currently, the diagnosis of PCa is often based on pathology by prostate biopsy.

Hsa_circ_0003258 promotes prostate cancer metastasis by complexing with IGF2BP3 and sponging miR-653-5p.

Background: More and more studies have shown that circular RNAs (circRNAs) play a critical regulatory role in many cancers. However, the potential molecular mechanism of circRNAs in prostate cancer (PCa) remains largely unknown.

Methods: Differentially expressed circRNAs were identified by RNA sequencing.

[L-carnitine-astaxanthin compound nutrients for the treatment of idiopathic oligospermia and asthenozoospermia: A multicenter clinical observation].

Objective: To investigate the clinical effects of the L-carnitine-astaxanthin compound nutrients Menglankang (MLK) on idiopathic oligospermia (OS) and asthenospermia (AS).

Methods: This study included 73 cases of OS and 220 cases of AS treated with MLK once a bag, bid, for 3 successive months. Before and at 1, 2 and 3 months after treatment, we obtained and analyzed the semen parameters and sperm DNA fragmentation index (DFI) of the patients.

Sexual Dysfunction in Patients With Urinary Bladder Stones but no Bladder Outlet Obstruction.

To explore the correlates of sexual dysfunction and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in male patients with urinary bladder stones and to determine the effect of stone extraction on recovery of sexual function. A total of 87 male patients with primary bladder stones were studied from January 2015 to May 2016. All patients underwent pneumatic lithotripsy for bladder stones.

Novel nanomedicines to overcome cancer multidrug resistance.

Chemotherapy remains a powerful tool to eliminate malignant cells. However, the efficacy of chemotherapy is compromised by the frequent emergence of intrinsic and acquired multidrug resistance (MDR). These chemoresistance modalities are based on a multiplicity of molecular mechanisms of drug resistance, including : 1) Impaired drug uptake into cancer cells; 2) Increased expression of ATP-binding cassette efflux transporters; 3) Loss of function of pro-apoptotic factors; 4) Enhanced DNA repair capacity; 5) Qualitative or quantitative alterations of specific cellular targets; 6) Alterations that allow cancer cells to tolerate adverse or stressful conditions; 7) Increased biotransformation or metabolism of anticancer drugs to less active or completely inactive metabolites; and 8) Intracellular and intercellular drug sequestration in well-defined organelles away from the cellular target.

Suppresses Tumor Progression by Inhibiting the PI3K/AKT Signaling Pathway in Prostate Cancer.

Background: SWI/SNF-related, matrix-associated, actin-dependent regulator of chromatin subfamily C member 1 () protein is a potential tumor suppressor in various cancers. However, its role in prostate cancer (PCa) remains controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the biological function of in PCa and explore the underlying regulatory mechanisms.