Telomerase as a new target for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate cancer

Endocrine-related Cancer
Annamaria Biroccio, Carlo Leonetti

Abstract

Prostate cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men. Androgen ablation is the mainstay of treatment for advanced prostate cancer. This therapy is very effective in androgen-dependent cancer; however, these cancers eventually become androgen independent, rendering anti-androgen therapy ineffective. The exploration of novel modalities of treatment is therefore essential to improve the prognosis of this neoplasia. Telomeres are specialized heterochromatin structures that act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes. Telomere maintenance in the majority of tumor cells is achieved by telomerase, a reverse transcriptase enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of further telomeric DNA. Telomerase is detected in the majority of prostate cancers, but not in normal or benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue. Moreover, the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene, the catalytic subunit of telomerase, is regulated by androgens as well as by different oncogenes including Her-2, Ras, c-Myc and Bcl-2, which seem to play an important role in prostate cancer progression. Thus, telomerase may represent a very good candidate for targeted therapy in prostate tumors. To inhibit telomere maintenance by telomerase, approaches...Continue Reading

Citations

Oct 13, 2007·The Journal of Clinical Investigation·Erica SalvatiAnnamaria Biroccio
Jun 7, 2005·Expert Opinion on Therapeutic Targets·Ladislav Novotny, Thomas Szekeres
Jul 20, 2010·Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta·Saptaparni GhoshDipak Dasgupta
Dec 20, 2005·BJU International·Jack A Schalken
Jun 6, 2006·European Journal of Cancer : Official Journal for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) [and] European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)·Annamaria BiroccioEric Gilson
Jun 25, 2015·Carcinogenesis·Kannan Badri NarayananHyun Ho Park
Aug 2, 2016·Scientific Reports·Dipamoy DattaProsenjit Sen
May 9, 2006·Current Opinion in Urology·Andrew J Armstrong, Michael A Carducci
Jun 11, 2011·Biomarkers in Medicine·Wen G Jiang, Richard J Ablin
Nov 10, 2007·FASEB Journal : Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology·Udo MoehrenAria Baniahmad
Mar 1, 2011·Clinical Cancer Research : an Official Journal of the American Association for Cancer Research·Annamaria BiroccioCarlo Leonetti

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