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Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common types of cancer in men in the United States and is the second leading cause of cancer related death in men. Clinically, secreted prostate specific antigen (PSA) has gained recognition because of its proteolytic activity being directly linked to PCa cell proliferation leading to disease initiation and progression. Using phage display technology, we identified four distinct cyclical peptides. These peptides apart from differences in their amino acid sequence, elicited minimal cross reactive antibody responses against each other. One of the four peptides analyzed produced an antibody response that recognizes the PSA protein. We demonstrate that the synthetic PSA peptide mimics identified in our study are immunologically active and produce neutralizing activity and this has relevance and utility for prostate cancer disease progression., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Cruciferous vegetables have been found to have anti-prostate cancer effects. The active compounds mediating these effects include indoles such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C) and isothiocyanates. I3C is unstable having tissue tropic effects and clinical utility has been partly addressed by the synthesis of a more stable dimer diindolylmethane (DIM)., Methods: Anti-proliferative activity was measured by XTT assay and cytosolic proteins quantitated by Western blot analysis., Results: DIM (IC(50) 50 microM) is a better anti-proliferative agent than I3C (IC(50) 150 microM) in androgen dependent LNCaP cells, inhibits DNA synthesis, and growth of R1881 stimulated LNCaP cells. Androgen receptor (AR), cyclin D1, and cdk4, induced by R1881, are downregulated by DIM. DIM downregulates phosphorylated Akt and phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase and downstream inhibition of cyclin D1 and cdk4., Conclusion: These studies provide evidence that DIM is a second-generation chemopreventive agent with a viable cellular target and has clinical potential as an anti-prostate cancer chemopreventive., ((c) 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Epidemiological evidences suggest that the progression and promotion of prostate cancer (CaP) can be modulated by diet. Since all men die with prostate cancer rather than of the disease, it is of particular interest to prevent or delay the progression of the disease by chemopreventive strategies. We have been studying the anticancer properties of compounds present in cruciferous vegetables such as indole-3-carbinol (I3C). Diindolylmethane (DIM) is a dimer of I3C that is formed under acidic conditions and unlike I3C is more stable with higher anti-cancer effects. In the present report, we demonstrate that DIM is a potent anti-proliferative agent compared to I3C in the hormone independent DU 145 CaP cells. The anti-prostate cancer effect is mediated by the inhibition of the Akt signal transduction pathway as DIM, in sharp contrast to I3C, induces the downregulation of Akt, p-Akt, and PI3 kinase. DIM also induced a G1 arrest in DU 145 cells by flow cytometry and downstream concurrent inhibition of cell cycle parameters such as cyclin D1, cdk4, and cdk6. Our data suggest a need for further development of DIM, as a chemopreventive agent for CaP, which justifies epidemiological evidences and molecular targets that are determinants for CaP dissemination/progression. The ingestion of DIM may benefit CaP patients and reduce disease recurrence by eliminating micro-metastases that may be present in patients who undergo radical prostatectomy.

Heat shock protein gp96 induces a tumor-specific protective immunity in a variety of experimental tumor models. Because the primary sequences of the glycoprotein, gp96 are identical between tumor and normal tissues, the peptides associated with gp96 and/or the posttranslational modifications of gp96, determine its immunogenicity. Gp96-associated peptides constitute the antigenic repertoire of the source tissue; thus, purified gp96-peptide complexes have clinical significance as autologous cancer vaccines. However, the role of altered glycosylation and its contribution in the biological as well as immunologic activity of gp96 still remains uncharacterized. We examined the cancer-specific glycosylation patterns of gp96. To this end, monosaccharide compositions of gp96 were compared between normal rat prostate and two cancerous rat prostate tissues, nonmetastatic/androgen-dependent Dunning G and metastatic/androgen-independent MAT-LyLu, as well as two human nonmetastatic prostate cancer cell lines, androgen-dependent LnCaP and androgen-independent DU145. Marked differences were observed between the gp96 monosaccharide compositions of the normal and cancerous tissues. Furthermore, gp96 molecules from more aggressive cellular transformations were found to carry decreasing quantities of several monosaccharides as well as sum total content of neutral and amino sugars. We believe that the unique glycosylation patterns contribute to cellular phenotype and that the posttranslational modifications of gp96 may affect its functional attributes.

The natural history of prostate cancer is a multistage process that involves the transition from normal tissue to subclinical cancer, with progression to carcinoma in situ and eventually metastatic disease. Evidence suggests that a high-fat diet plays a critical role in the biology and progression of the disease. ACI rats were maintained for two generations on high beef fat or control diets for 18 months. Affymetrix microarrays were used to analyze the mRNA expression levels in the dorsolateral prostates of rats on the different diets. Approximately 4752 genes and expressed sequence tag (EST) were expressed in the prostates of rats on either diet. Twenty-seven genes were upregulated and 28 genes downregulated in the high beef fat diet. Data analysis indicated that a high beef fat diet affects the expression of genes involved in inflammation, glucose and fatty acid metabolism, androgen metabolism, potential tumor suppression and protein kinase activity, as well as intracellular and extracellular matrix molecules, growth factors and androgen responsive genes. Results from these and future studies will lead to a better understanding of the effect of diet on gene expression in the prostate and facilitate the rational design and assessment of potential dietary programs for prostate cancer prevention.

We are studying peptide immunogenicity as a function of the similarity level to the host's proteome. By using as a model the breast/prostate cancer-associated HER-2/neu antigen, we analyzed the monoclonal and polyclonal humoral immune responses against HER-2/neu peptide motifs not shared with the host proteome. We show here that (i) a mouse monoclonal antibody (MAb) raised against the extracellular domain (EC) of human HER-2/neu oncoprotein recognized a linear peptide motif endowed with low similarity level to the mouse proteome; (ii) likewise, human sera from breast/prostate cancer patients preferentially recognized peptide fragments from the EC of the HER-2/neu oncoprotein having sequences that are not present in the human proteome. Together with previous results obtained in other disease models (cervical cancer-associated HPV16 E7 oncoprotein and Pemphigus vulgaris auto-antigen desmoglein-3), the present data suggest that a low level of sequence similarity to the host's proteome might be an important factor in shaping the pool of B cell epitopes., (Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)