ThuLEP offers complete removal of the transition zone no matter what prostatic size. The techniques combine maximum efficacy with minimal side-effects. Clinical results comparing ThuLEP with open prostatectomy or transurethral resection are awaited.

In addition to the observation that erectile dysfunction is more prevalent in patients with hypertension than in an age matched general population, our study shows that it is more severe in those with hypertension than in the general population.

One of the promising possibilities of the clinical application of cold plasma, so-called cold atmospheric plasma (CAP), is its application on malignant cells and cancer tissue using its anti-neoplastic effects, primarily through the delivery of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS, RNS). In this study, we investigated the impact of CAP on cellular proliferation and consecutive molecular response mechanisms in established prostate cancer (PC) cell lines. PC cells showed a significantly reduced cell growth following CAP treatment as a result of both an immediate increase of intracellular peroxide levels and through the induction of apoptosis indicated by annexin V assay, TUNEL assay, and the evaluation of changes in nuclear morphology. Notably, co-administration of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) completely neutralized CAP effects by NAC uptake and rapid conversion to glutathione (GSH). Vitamin C could not counteract the CAP induced effects on cell growth. In summary, relatively short treatments with CAP of 10 seconds were sufficient to induce a significant inhibition of cancer proliferation, as observed for the first time in urogenital cancer. Therefore, it is important to understand the mode of CAP related cell death and clarify and optimize CAP as cancer therapy. Increased levels of peroxides can alter redox-regulated signaling pathways and can lead to growth arrest and apoptosis. We assume that the general intracellular redox homeostasis, especially the levels of cellular GSH and peroxidases such as peroxiredoxins affect the outcome of the CAP treatment.

Exposure of LNCaP cells to a hormone deficient medium drastically increased cyclic AMP production and this may identify the biochemical pathway through which hormone depletion induces a neuroendocrine conversion of prostate cancer cells. Hormone depletion also reduced TGF-beta2 mRNA expression and this finding was consistent with our inability to demonstrate any effect of TGF-beta2 on neuroendocrine conversion in vitro. Finally, our demonstration of increased neuroendocrine cells found in LNCaP tumors growing in castrated immunodeficient mice suggests that the neuroendocrine cells associated with advanced human prostate tumors in vivo, arise from prostate cancer cells through the transdifferentiation process.

In addition to the observation that erectile dysfunction is more prevalent in patients with hypertension than in an age matched general population, our study shows that it is more severe in those with hypertension than in the general population.

No abstract

This study demonstrates that even acute hypoxia has the potential to drastically alter the growth, differentiation characteristics, and apoptotic sensitivity of a prostate cancer cell.

To date, there is an increasing interest in the nitric oxide (NO) pathway as a potential pharmacological target to treat male lower urinary tract symptomatology (LUTS). In the transition zone of the human prostate, a dense nitrinergic innervation has been shown of the fibromuscular stroma, glandular epithelium and blood vessels. The expression of key proteins of the NO pathway, such as the endothelial and neuronal nitric oxide synthase (eNOS, nNOS), cGMP-degrading phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) and cGMP-binding protein kinase (cGK), has also been demonstrated. The hypothesis that an impaired NO/cGMP-signaling may contribute to the pathophysiology of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is supported by the results from randomized, placebo-controlled clinical studies, indicating that NO donor drugs and PDE5-inhibitors sildenafil, tadalafil and vardenafil may be useful to treat storage and voiding dysfunctions resulting from LUTS in men. Thus, given a potential role of the NO-pathway in the prostate and/or in other parts of lower urinary tract (e.g. bladder), the enhancement of the NO signaling by NO donor drugs, PDE5 inhibitors or activators of the soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) may represent a new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of LUTS. This review serves to focus on the role of NO and the NO-dependent signaling in the control of smooth muscle function in the human prostate. Results from clinical trials in men with LUTS/BPH are also discussed.