Conditionally replicating adenoviruses (CRAds) represent a promising modality for the treatment of neoplastic diseases, including Prostate Cancer. Selectively replicating viruses can be generated by placing a tissue or cancer-specific promoter upstream of one or more of the viral genes required for replication (for example, E1A, E1B). We have previously reported multiple cellular processes that can attenuate viral replication, which in turn compromises viral oncolysis and tumor kill. In this study, we investigated the importance of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21/Waf-1, on viral replication and tumor growth. To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the importance of p21/Waf-1shRNA on the induction of an androgen responsive element (ARE) based promoter driving the E1A gene. As a proof of concept, the study emphasizes the use of RNA interference technology to overcome promoter weaknesses for tissue-specific oncolytic viruses, as well as the cellular inhibitor pathways on viral life cycle. Using RNA interference against p21/Waf-1, we were able to show an increase in viral replication and viral oncolysis of prostate cancer cells. Similarly, CRAd viruses that carry p21/Waf-1 shRNA (Ad5-RV004.21) were able to prevent tumor outgrowth that resulted in a marked increase in the mean survival time of tumor-bearing mice compared with CRAd without p21/Waf-1 shRNA (Ad5-RV004). In studies combining Ad5-RV004.21 with Adriamycin, a suprar-additive effect was observed only in CRAds that harbor shRNA against p21/Waf-1. Taken together, these findings of enhanced viral replication in prostate cancer cells by using RNA interference against the cdk inhibitor p21/Waf-1 have significant implications in the development of prostate-specific CRAd therapies.
Renal cell carcinoma is the most common type of renal malignancy and it originates from the renal tubular epithelium. Due to the diversity in the histopathological and molecular characteristics, it is typically subclassified into five different categories. Papillary renal cell carcinoma is one subclassification and it includes two variants: sporadic and hereditary. Although the hereditary form comprises a smaller number of cases of papillary renal cell carcinoma, an understanding of the molecular pathways and genetic changes continues to play a significant role in the development of new targeted therapies. Along with recommending appropriate lifestyle modification, further investigation into the molecular pathogenesis of hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma will continue to be invaluable for the clinical management of renal cell carcinoma. In this article, we discuss a case of the hereditary papillary renal cell carcinoma along with an overview of the disease.
“Giant hyperplasia” of the prostate is a rare pathology of the prostate gland. We report one such case, in which a successful retropubic prostatectomy was performed on an elderly male patient in Pakistan. The weight of the resected prostate was 700 g, which is the eighth largest prostate with benign prostatic hyperplasia reported.
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