A Novel Prostate Epithelium-Specific Transcription Factor in Prostate Cancer
Abstract
Our goal is to understand the role of a novel epithelium-specific Ets transcription factor, PDEF, in prostate cancer. Our progress over the last year has provided significant further evidence that PDEF is an important player in prostate cancer. We were able to demonstrate that PDEF expression is regulated by androgen and that PDEF is indeed a critical regulator of PSA gene expression in prostate cancer cells. We, furthermore, demonstrated that PDEF is significantly upregulated in a number of prostate cancer patients and, thus, possibly may serve as a marker for prostate cancer. We also showed that PDEF expression is downregulated by the growth inhibitor TGF- Beta 1 and that PDEF itself can regulate cell proliferation. We also identified a variety of target genes for PDEF using transcriptional profiling which will further help us to understand the biological function of PDEF. Our results as well as the critical roles of other Ets factors in cellular differentiation and tumorigenesis strongly suggest that PDEF is an important regulator of prostate gland development and plays a role in prostate and breast cancer progression or development. The new data have further strengthened our believe that PDEF is a prime target for drug development.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA410259
Entities
People
- Towia A Libermann
Organizations
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center