Endocrine Abstracts

Prostate growth during development and at puberty is dependent on androgens. After puberty, growth ceases and the secretory function of the organ is maintained in the presence of high circulating testosterone levels. However, in cases of benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer, growth resumes inappropriately. Like normal prostate growth, tumour growth is initially androgen-dependent; hence, treatment involves removing circulating androgens by chemical castration and o...

Androgens and increasing age are established risk factors associated with prostate cancer, Paradoxically, testosterone levels gradually decline with increasing age as the incidence of prostate cancer (PCa) rises in older men. Estrogens have been implicated in PCa as estrogen levels in older men remain relatively unchanged resulting in a decline in the ratio of androgens:estrogens with age. Thus the hormonal regulation of prostate cancer is not limited to a role for androgens a...

INTRODUCTION: Tissue microarrays (TMAs) are a powerful tool to analyze the clinical significance of tens of biomarkers on hundreds of tumors in a parallel fashion. Here, we used TMAs to survey the potential role of different markers as predictors of prognosis or therapy response in prostate cancer.MATERIAL & METHODS: Two different prostate TMAs were constructed. 1. A prognostic TMA with specimens from 657 patients with clinically localized prostate cancer and longterm ...