No abstract

A substantial subset of breast, colorectal, ovarian, endometrial and prostatic cancers displays markedly elevated expression of immunohistochemically detectable fatty acid synthase, a feature that has been associated with poor prognosis and that may be exploited in anti‐neoplastic therapy. Here, using an RNA array hybridisation technique complemented by in situ hybridisation, we report that in prostate cancer fatty acid synthase expression is up‐regulated at the mRNA level together with other enzymes of the same metabolic pathway. Contrary to the observations that in many cell systems (including androgen‐stimulated LNCaP prostate cancer cells) fatty acid and cholesterol metabolism are co‐ordinately regulated so as to supply balanced amounts of lipids for membrane biosynthesis, storage or secretion, no changes in the expression of genes involved in cholesterol synthesis were found. These findings point to selective activation of the fatty acid synthesis pathway and suggest a shift in the balance of lipogenic gene expression in a subgroup of prostate cancers. Int. J. Cancer 88:176–179, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

No abstract

PSMA is a widely used marker for prostate epithelial cells. Its up-regulation in association with cancer, particularly in advanced cancer, is ideal for application as a prognostic marker. A variety of promising clinical applications utilizing PSMA have been or are being developed. In the future, these promise to have an important impact on cancer diagnosis and patient treatment.

BACKGROUND The authors report observed 10‐year brachytherapy results in the treatment of 152 consecutive patients with clinically organ‐confined prostate carcinoma. METHODS One hundred and fifty‐two consecutive patients with T1‐T3, low to high Gleason grade, prostate carcinoma were treated between January 1987 and June 1988 at Northwest Hospital in Seattle, Washington. Their median age was 70 years (range, 53‐92 years). Of these 152 patients, 98 (64%) received an iodine‐125 implant alone (Group 1), and the remaining 54 patients (36%), who were judged to have a higher risk of extraprostatic extension, also were treated with 45 gray (Gy) of external beam irradiation to the pelvis (Group 2). No patient underwent lymph node sampling, and none received androgen ablation therapy. Multivariate regression and the Mann‐Whitney rank sum test were used for statistical analysis. Preoperative patient data with associated success or failure outcomes at 10 years after treatment were used for training and validating a back‐propagation neural network prediction program. RESULTS The average preoperative prostate specific antigen (PSA) value, clinical stage, and Gleason grade were 11.0 ng/mL, T2, and 5, respectively. The median posttreatment follow‐up was 119 months (range, 3‐134 months). Overall survival 10 years after treatment was 65%. At last follow‐up only 3 of the 152 patients (2%) had died of prostate carcinoma. Ninety‐seven patients (64%) remained clinically and biochemically free of disease at 10 years of follow‐up and had an average PSA value of 0.18 ng/mL (range, 0.01‐0.5 ng/mL). In these patients a period of 42 months was required to reach the average PSA (0.5 ng/mL). The median to last PSA follow‐up was 95 months (range, 3‐134 months). Postoperative needle biopsies were negative in 56% of patients, positive in 15% of patients, and not available in 29% of patients. Only 6% of patients developed bone metastasis. At 10 years there was no statistically significant difference in treatment outcome between patients who received iodine‐125 alone, and those who received iodine‐125 with 45‐Gy external beam irradiation (P = 0.08). Nevertheless, in these two groups preoperative PSA, stage, and Gleason grade were significantly different (P < 0.01). In the artificial neural network analysis, pretreatment serum PSA was the most accurate predictor of disease‐free survival. CONCLUSIONS Percutaneous prostate brachytherapy is a valid and efficient option for treating patients with clinically organ‐confined, low to high Gleason grade, prostate carcinoma. Observed 10‐year follow‐up documents serum PSA levels superior to those reported in several published external beam irradiation series, and comparable to those published in a number of published radical prostatectomy series. Cancer 1998;83:989‐1001. © 1998 American Cancer Society.