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Purpose: To determine whether statin use at time of surgery is associated with survival following nephrectomy or partial nephrectomy for renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Statins are thought to exhibit a protective effect on cancer incidence and possibly cancer survival in a number of malignancies. To date, no studies have shown an independent association between statin use and mortality in RCC., Methods: A retrospective cohort study of 916 patients who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy for RCC from 2000 to 2010 at a single institution was performed. Primary outcomes were overall (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). Univariable survival analyses were performed using the Kaplan-Meier and the log-rank methods. Multivariable analysis was performed using a Cox proportional hazards model. The predictive discrimination of the models was assessed using the Harrell c-index., Results: The median follow-up of the entire cohort was 42.5 months. The 3-year OS estimate was 83.1% (95% CI: 77.6%-87.3%) for statin users and 77.3% (95% CI: 73.7%-80.6%) for nonstatin users (P = 0.53). The 3-year DSS was 90.9% (95% CI: 86.3%-94.0%) for statin users and 83.5% (95% CI: 80.1%-86.3%) for nonstatin users (P = 0.015). After controlling for age, American Society of Anesthesiology class, pT category, pN category, metastatic status, preoperative anemia and corrected hypercalcemia, and blood type, statin use at time of surgery was independently associated with improved OS (hazard ratio = 0.62; 95% CI: 0.43-0.90; P = 0.011) and DSS (hazard ratio = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.28-0.83; P = 0.009). The multivariable model for DSS had excellent predictive discrimination with a c-index of 0.91., Conclusions: These data suggest that statin usage at time of surgery is independently associated with improved OS and DSS in patients undergoing surgery for RCC., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose of Review: High-risk, nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (HR-NMIBC) represents a costly and difficult-to-treat disease, the molecular pathogenesis of which has a limited understanding. Most preclinical models for the study of bladder cancer are more appropriate for the study of advanced disease. However, recent key advances in preclinical animal models places us at an opportune position to better understand HR-NMIBC., Recent Findings: Discoveries in the basic sciences allow us to better understand tumor biology when building models of bladder cancer. Of note, a key study on urothelial progenitor cells recently highlighted an important role for Sonic hedgehog-positive cells and retinoid signaling that is essential for urothelial development and regeneration. In the translational realm, transgenic mouse models continue to be used, with a recent interest in the role of Wnt/beta-catenin in urothelial carcinomas. Tissue recombination models are also being increasingly utilized to better recreate the tissue microenvironment and better understand stromal-epithelial interactions and the impact of genetic alterations on tissue differentiation. Lastly, the avatar mouse systems, which involve direct xenotransplantation of human tumor specimens into immunocompromised mice, represent an additional approach to study cancer characteristics in a preserved tissue context., Summary: With molecular alterations remaining an unclear area of our understanding of HR-NMIBC, preclinical models of bladder cancer serve as essential tools to discover specific genetic compromises in disease pathogenesis and the therapeutics to treat them.

Background: Approximately one-third of patients fail medical treatment for benign prostatic hyperplasia and associated lower urinary tract symptoms (BPH/LUTS) requiring surgical intervention. Our purpose was to establish a molecular characterization for patients undergoing surgical intervention for LUTS to address therapeutic deficiencies., Methods: Clinical, molecular, and histopathological profiles were analyzed in 26 patients undergoing surgery for severe LUTS. Incidental transitional zone nodules were isolated from 37 patients with mild symptoms undergoing radical prostatectomy. Clinical parameters including age, prostate volume, medication, prostate specific antigen, symptom score, body mass index, and incidence of diabetes were collected. Multivariate logistic regression analysis with adjustments for potential confounding variables was used to examine associations between patient clinical characteristics and molecular targets identified through molecular profiling., Results: Compared to incidental BPH, progressive symptomatic BPH was associated with increased expression of the activating protein-1 transcription factor/chemokine network. As expected, inverse correlations were drawn between androgen receptor levels and age, as well as between 5α-reductase inhibitor (5ARI) treatment and tissue prostate specific antigen levels; however, a novel association was also drawn between 5ARI treatment and increased c-FOS expression., Conclusions: This study provides molecular evidence that a network of pro-inflammatory activating protein-1 transcription factors and associated chemokines are highly enriched in symptomatic prostate disease, a profile that molecularly categorizes with many other chronic autoimmune diseases. Because 5ARI treatment was associated with increased c-FOS expression, future studies should explore whether increased activating protein-1 proteins are causal factors in the development of symptomatic prostate disease, inflammation or resistance to traditional hormonal therapy., (© 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Hindgut-derived endoderm can differentiate into rectal, prostatic, and bladder phenotypes. Stromal-epithelial interactions are crucial for this development; however, the precise mechanisms by which epithelium responds to stromal cues remain unknown. We have previously reported ectopic expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ2 (PPARγ2) increased androgen receptor expression and promoted differentiation of mouse prostate epithelium. PPARγ is also implicated in urothelial differentiation. Herein we demonstrate that knockdown of PPARγ2 in benign human prostate epithelial cells (BHPrEs) promotes urothelial transdifferentiation. Furthermore, in vitro and in vivo heterotypic tissue regeneration models with embryonic bladder mesenchyme promoted urothelial differentiation of PPARγ2-deficient BHPrE cells, and deficiency of both PPARγ isoforms 1 and 2 arrested differentiation. Because PTEN deficiency is cooperative in urothelial pathogenesis, we engineered BHPrE cells with combined knockdown of PPARγ and PTEN and performed heterotypic recombination experiments using embryonic bladder mesenchyme. Whereas PTEN deficiency alone induced latent squamous differentiation in BHPrE cells, combined PPARγ and PTEN deficiency accelerated the development of keratinizing squamous metaplasia (KSM). We further confirmed via immunohistochemistry that gene expression changes in metaplastic recombinants reflected human urothelium undergoing KSM. In summary, these data suggest that PPARγ isoform expression provides a molecular basis for observations that adult human epithelium can be transdifferentiated on the basis of heterotypic mesenchymal induction. These data also implicate PPARγ and PTEN inactivation in the development of KSM., (Copyright © 2013 American Society for Investigative Pathology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Defects in the apoptosis pathway limit the effectiveness of radiation in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) therapy. BV6 is an antagonist of cIAP1 and XIAP, members of the inhibitors of apoptosis (IAP) family. We investigated the potential of BV6 to sensitize NSCLC cell lines to radiation., Methods: HCC193 and H460 lung cancer cell lines were treated with BV6 to investigate the effects of drug administration on cell proliferation, apoptosis, inhibition of XIAP and cIAP1, and radiosensitivity. Subsequent immunoblotting and Hoechst staining were used to determine the role of apoptosis in radiosensitization. Finally, the pathway of apoptosis was characterized by Western blot analysis for cleaved caspase-8 and cleaved caspase-9 and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for TNF-α., Results: HCC193 was found to be more sensitive than H460 to BV6-induced apoptosis in a concentration-dependent and time-dependent manner. BV6 significantly sensitized both cell lines to radiation (HCC193-DER = 1.38, p < 0.05 at 1 μM BV6; H460-DER = 1.42, p < 0.05 at 5 μM BV6), but a higher concentration of and longer incubation time with BV6 was necessary for H460 cells. The BV6-induced radiosensitization of HCC193 favored the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis, whereas that of H460 favored the intrinsic pathway., Conclusions: BV6, an IAP antagonist, significantly enhanced the radiosensitization of HCC193 and H460 cells in vitro. More research is warranted to test the mechanism of action of BV6 and to assess its potential in vivo and in the clinical setting.