COUP-TFII sparks prostate cancer progression

November 28, 2012 in Cancer

Prostate cancer presents a dilemma for patients and the physicians who treat them. Which cancers are essentially indolent and present no risk and which are life threatening? Which can be watched and which need aggressive treatment?

Drs. Ming-Jer and Sophia Tsai, both professors in the department of at Baylor College of Medicine, think a receptor called COUP-TFII that they have long studied may point the way to an answer. In a study that appears online in the journal Nature, they show that high levels (overexpression) of COUP-TFII can overcome a natural barrier to progression of prostate cancer, allowing to grow and spread throughout the body – a process called metastasis.

"Levels of COUP-TFII provide a good for prostate cancer when added to other known markers of the disease," said Dr. Ming-Jer Tsai.

"COUP-TFII is an important 'second hit' for the progression of prostate cancer and metastasis," said Dr. Sophia Tsai. In other words, one "hit" or mutation might start the process of cells becoming cancerous. The second "hit" would make them more aggressive.

In studies of patient samples, loss of a protein called PTEN or mutations in another signaling pathway called PI3K show up in prostate tumors. However, tumors in which PTEN is lost can remain indolent. One theory is that loss of PTEN increases TGF-beta signaling, which creates a barrier to .

The Tsais' studies in mice that lack PTEN show that loss of COUP-TFII inhibits the development of in the animals. When mice have a gene that produces insufficient levels of PTEN, COUP-TFII overexpression enhances prostate . Further studies in mice that lost PTEN showed that high levels of COUP-TFII promoted the metastatic spread of the prostate cancer.

Studies in cell cultures and in human tissues confirmed the activity of COUP-TFII in promoting a more aggressive form of prostate cancer that could spread and metastasize.

The next step is find out how to inhibit COUP-TFII and prevent so-called indolent prostate cancers from becoming more aggressive, said Ming-Jer Tsai.

More information: DOI: 10.1038/nature11674

Journal reference: Nature search and more info website

Provided by Baylor College of Medicine search and more info website

not rated yet  

Rank not rated yet
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Two radiotherapy treatments show similar morbidity, cancer control after prostatectomy

Use of the newer, more expensive intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and use of the older conformal radiotherapy (CRT) after surgical removal of all or part of the prostate gland were associated with similar morbidity ...

Cancer created 34 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The compound in the Mediterranean diet that makes cancer cells 'mortal'

New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death. By altering a very specific step in gene regulation, this compound essentially re-educates cancer ...

Cancer created 54 minutes ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

CT radiation risk less than risk of examination indicator

(HealthDay)—For young adults needing either a chest or abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT), the short-term risk of death from underlying morbidity is greater than the long-term risk of radiation-induced ...

Cancer created 2 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Team finds mechanism linking key inflammatory marker to cancer

In a new study described in the journal Oncogene, researchers reveal how a key player in cell growth, immunity and the inflammatory response can be transformed into a primary contributor to tumor growth.

Cancer created 7 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study of young Israelis emphasizes need for avoidance of sun exposure for the very young

A new study conducted using extensive medical records of over one million Israeli adolescents before military service shows clearly how exposure to the Israeli sun of young, light-skinned children increases substantially ...

Cancer created 9 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0


Study shows how bilinguals switch between languages

(Medical Xpress)—Individuals who learn two languages at an early age seem to switch back and forth between separate "sound systems" for each language, according to new research conducted at the University of Arizona.

Study suggests new source of kidneys for transplant

Nearly 20 percent of kidneys that are recovered from deceased donors in the U.S. are refused for transplant due to factors ranging from scarring in small blood vessels of the kidney's filtering units to the organ going too ...

Discovery of circadian clock in mice hair reveals period of time when damage from radiotherapy can be quickly repaired

Discovering that mouse hair has a circadian clock - a 24-hour cycle of growth followed by restorative repair - researchers suspect that hair loss in humans from toxic cancer radiotherapy and chemotherapy ...

SARS-like virus claims new life in Saudi

A Saudi man who had contracted the coronavirus has died, raising the death toll in the kingdom from the SARS-like virus to 16, the health ministry announced on Monday on its Internet website.

Gym class reduces probability of obesity, study finds for first time

Little is known about the effect of physical education (PE) on child weight, but a new study from Cornell University finds that increasing the amount of time that elementary schoolchildren spent in gym class reduces the probability ...

Human-like opponents lead to more aggression in video game players, study finds

Video games that pit players against human-looking characters may be more likely to provoke violent thoughts and words than games where monstrous creatures are the enemy, according to a new study by researchers ...