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OBJECTIVE: To review the recent milestones in MRI and PET based imaging and evaluate their evolving role in the setting of elevated PSA as well as localized prostate cancer. BACKGROUND: The importance of multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) and PET based imaging for the diagnosis and staging of prostate cancer cannot be understated. Accurate staging has become another significant milestone with the use of PET scans, particularly with prostate specific radiotracers like 68-Gallium Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (68Ga-PSMA). Integrated PET/MRI systems are commercially available and can be modulated to evaluate the unique needs of localized as well as recurrent prostate cancer. METHODS: A literature search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar using the MeSH compliant and other keywords that included prostate cancer, PSA, mpMRI, PET CT, PET/MRI. CONCLUSIONS: mpMRI has now established itself as the gold-standard of local prostate imaging and has been incorporated into international guidelines as part of the diagnostic work-up of prostate cancer. PSMA PET/CT has shown superiority over conventional imaging even in staging of localized prostate cancer based on recent randomized control data. Imaging parameters from PET/MRI have been shown to be associated with malignancy, Gleason score and tumour volume. As mpMRI and PSMA PET/CT become more ubiquitous and established; we can anticipate more high-quality data, cost optimization and increasing availability of PET/MRI to be ready for primetime in localized prostate cancer.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) followed by radical cystectomy is the standard of care for patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Careful selection is needed...

Despite considerable interest in the biologic processes of regeneration and stem cell activation, little is known about the genes involved in these transformative events. In a Hydra littoralis model of regeneration, we employed a rapid shotgun suppression subtractive hybridization strategy to identify genes that are uniquely expressed in regenerating tissue. With an adaptor-PCR based technique, 16 candidate transcripts were identified, 15 were confirmed unique to mRNA isolated from hydra undergoing regeneration. Of these, 6 were undescribed in GenBank and allied expressed sequence tag (EST) databases (GenBank + EMBL + DDBJ + PDB and the Hydra EST database). BLAST analysis of these sequences identified remarkably similar sequences in anonymous ESTs found in a wide variety of animal species.

This study was designed to engineer a functional filaggrin (FLG) monomer linked to a cell-penetrating peptide (RMR) and to test the ability of this peptide to penetrate epidermal tissue as a therapeutic strategy for genetically determined atopic dermatitis (AD). A single repeat of the murine filaggrin gene (Flg) was covalently linked to a RMR motif and cloned into a bacterial expression system for protein production. Purified FLG+RMR (mFLG+RMR) was applied in vitro to HEK-293T cells and a reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) tissue model. Immunochemistry demonstrated RMR-dependent cellular uptake of FLG+RMR in a dose- and time-dependent manner in HEK cells. Immunohistochemical staining of the RHE model identified penetration of FLG+RMR to the stratum granulosum, the epidermal layer at which FLG deficiency is thought to be pathologically relevant. In vivo application of FLG+RMR to FLG-deficient flaky tail (ft/ft) mice skin demonstrated internalization and processing of recombinant FLG+RMR to restore the normal phenotype. These results suggest that topically applied RMR-linked FLG monomers are able to penetrate epidermal tissue, be internalized into the appropriate cell type, and be processed to a size similar to wild-type functional barrier peptides to restore necessary barrier function, and prove to be therapeutic for patients with AD.