A Novel Prostate Epithelium-Specific Transcription Factor in Prostate Cancer
Abstract
Prostate cancer has become the most common solid cancer in older men and is one of the most frequent causes of cancer deaths. The poor prognosis for advanced prostate cancer reflects in part the lack of knowledge about the tumor's basic biology. Our goal is to understand the role of a novel prostate-specific transcription factor, PDEF, a member of an oncogene family in human-prostate cancer. Expression of this factor is significantly elevated in cancerous portions of the-prostate. PDEF appears to be involved in regulating expression of the diagnostic prostate cancer marker PSA and cooperates with the androgen receptor. Thus, our hypothesis is that PDEF contributes to the progression from an initially hormone-dependent prostate cancer to a hormone-independent cancer. We propose to determine the role of this novel gene in prostate cancer using , cell culture models, animal models and patient samples of prostate cancer. Our results strongly suggest that PDEF plays a critical role in prostate cancer formation - or progression. Our long term goal is to explore the possibility to use this new factor as another diagnostic tool and as a potential therapeutic target for prostate cancer.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2004
- Accession Number
- ADA428537
Entities
People
- Towia A Libermann
Organizations
- Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center