Notch signaling in the prostate: critical roles during development and in the hallmarks of prostate cancer biology
Abstract
This review aims to summarize the evidence that Notch signaling is associated with prostate development, tumorigenesis and prostate tumor progression. Studies in PubMed database were searched using the keywords of Notch signaling, prostate development and prostate cancer. Relevant literatures were identified and summarized. The Notch pathway plays an important role in determining cell fate, proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Recent findings have highlighted the involvement of Notch signaling in prostate development and in the maintenance of adult prostate homeostasis. Aberrant Notch expression in tissues leads to dysregulation of Notch functions and promotes various neoplasms, including prostate cancer. High expression of Notch has been implicated in prostate cancer, and its expression increases with higher cancer grade. However, the precise role of Notch in prostate cancer has yet to be clearly defined. The roles of Notch either as an oncogene or tumor suppressor in prostate cancer hallmarks such as cell proliferation, apoptosis and anoikis, hypoxia, migration and invasion, angiogenesis as well as the correlation with metastasis are therefore discussed. Notch signaling is a complicated signaling pathway in modulatin...Continue Reading
References
Notch signaling is a direct determinant of keratinocyte growth arrest and entry into differentiation
Citations
Related Concepts
Related Feeds
Apoptosis
Apoptosis is a specific process that leads to programmed cell death through the activation of an evolutionary conserved intracellular pathway leading to pathognomic cellular changes distinct from cellular necrosis
Apoptosis in Cancer
Apoptosis is an important mechanism in cancer. By evading apoptosis, tumors can continue to grow without regulation and metastasize systemically. Many therapies are evaluating the use of pro-apoptotic activation to eliminate cancer growth. Here is the latest research on apoptosis in cancer.
Cell Migration
Cell migration is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes such as embryonic development, cancer metastasis, blood vessel formation and remoulding, tissue regeneration, immune surveillance and inflammation. Here is the latest research.
Cell Migration in Cancer and Metastasis
Migration of cancer cells into surrounding tissue and the vasculature is an initial step in tumor metastasis. Discover the latest research on cell migration in cancer and metastasis here.