Men and Prostate Cancer

[beecee]

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-prostate-cancer-cells-shapeshifters-distant.html

Prostate cancer cells become 'shapeshifters' to spread to distant organs

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists report they have discovered a biochemical process that gives prostate cancer cells the almost unnatural ability to change their shape, squeeze into other organs and take root in other parts of the body. The scientists say their cell culture and mouse studies of the process, which involves a cancer-related protein called AIM1, suggest potential ways to intercept or reverse the ability of cancers to metastasize, or spread.

Results of the research are described in the July 26 issue of Nature Communications.

For the study, the Johns Hopkins scientists mined publically available research data on the genetics and chemistry of hundreds of primary and metastatic cancers included in five studies of men with prostate cancer. They found that a gene called AIM1 (aka "absent in melanoma 1"), which makes proteins also called AIM1, is deleted in approximately 20 - 30 percent of prostate cancers confined to the gland and about 40 percent of metastatic prostate cancers. In addition, the scientists found, on average, two- to fourfold less amounts of AIM1 expression in metastatic prostate cancers compared with normal prostate cells or those from men with prostate cancers confined to the prostate, suggesting that reduction of AIM1 proteins is somehow linked to tumor spread.

more at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-08-prostate-cancer-cells-shapeshifters-distant.html

the paper:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00084-8

Abstract

A defining hallmark of primary and metastatic cancers is the migration and invasion of malignant cells. These invasive properties involve altered dynamics of the cytoskeleton and one of its major structural components β-actin. Here we identify AIM1 (absent in melanoma 1) as an actin-binding protein that suppresses pro-invasive properties in benign prostate epithelium. Depletion of AIM1 in prostate epithelial cells increases cytoskeletal remodeling, intracellular traction forces, cell migration and invasion, and anchorage-independent growth. In addition, decreased AIM1 expression results in increased metastatic dissemination in vivo. AIM1 strongly associates with the actin cytoskeleton in prostate epithelial cells in normal tissues, but not in prostate cancers. In addition to a mislocalization of AIM1 from the actin cytoskeleton in invasive cancers, advanced prostate cancers often harbor AIM1 deletion and reduced expression. These findings implicate AIM1 as a key suppressor of invasive phenotypes that becomes dysregulated in primary and metastatic prostate cancer.

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I have just recently lost a mater who was diagnosed with aggressive Prostate cancer which has spread to his bones. He was given 2 months to live and was dead in 7 weeks.

Edited August 8, 2017 by Cap'n Refsmmat
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[DrmDoc]

A remarkable step towards understanding and preventing prostate cancer. Quite informative!