Mechanisms of Acquired Androgen Independence during Arsenic-Induced Malignant Transformation of Human Prostate Epithelial Cells

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer progression often occurs with overexpression of growth factors and receptors, many of which engage the Ras/mitogen-activated protein MAP kinase (MAPK) pathway. OBJECTIVES: In this study we used arsenic-transformed human prostate epithelial cells, which also show androgen-independent growth, to study the possibility that chronic activation of Ras/MAPK signaling may contribute to arsenic-induced prostate cancer progression. METHODS: Control and chronic arsenic–transformed prostate epithelial cells (CAsE-PE) were compared for Ras/MAPK signaling capacities using reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analyses. RESULTS: We found activation of HER-2/neu oncogene in transformed CAsE-PE cells, providing molecular evidence of androgen independence in the transformed cells. CAsE-PE cells displayed constitutively increased expression of unmutated K-Ras (6-fold), and the downstream MAP kinases A-Raf and B-Raf (2.2-fold and 3.2-fold, respectively). There was also increased expression of phosphorylated MEK1/2 and Elk1 in the transformant cells. The MEK1/2 inhibitor, U0126, blocked PSA overexpression in CAsE-PE cells. CONCLUSION: Thus, arsenic-induced malignant transformation and acquired androgen independence are linked to Ras signaling activation in human prostate epithelial cells. Chronic activation of this pathway can sensitize the androgen receptor to subphysiologic levels of androgen. This may be important in arsenic carcinogenesis and provide a mechanism that may be common for prostate cancer progression driven by diverse agents

Spawning of bluefin tuna in the black sea: historical evidence, environmental constraints and population plasticity

<div><p>The lucrative and highly migratory Atlantic bluefin tuna, <em>Thunnus thynnus</em> (Linnaeus 1758<em>;</em> Scombridae), used to be distributed widely throughout the north Atlantic Ocean, Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea. Its migrations have supported sustainable fisheries and impacted local cultures since antiquity, but its biogeographic range has contracted since the 1950s. Most recently, the species disappeared from the Black Sea in the late 1980s and has not yet recovered. Reasons for the Black Sea disappearance, and the species-wide range contraction, are unclear. However bluefin tuna formerly foraged and possibly spawned in the Black Sea. Loss of a locally-reproducing population would represent a decline in population richness, and an increase in species vulnerability to perturbations such as exploitation and environmental change. Here we identify the main genetic and phenotypic adaptations that the population must have (had) in order to reproduce successfully in the specific hydrographic (estuarine) conditions of the Black Sea. By comparing hydrographic conditions in spawning areas of the three species of bluefin tunas, and applying a mechanistic model of egg buoyancy and sinking rate, we show that reproduction in the Black Sea must have required specific adaptations of egg buoyancy, fertilisation and development for reproductive success. Such adaptations by local populations of marine fish species spawning in estuarine areas are common as is evident from a meta-analysis of egg buoyancy data from 16 species of fish. We conclude that these adaptations would have been necessary for successful local reproduction by bluefin tuna in the Black Sea, and that a locally-adapted reproducing population may have disappeared. Recovery of bluefin tuna in the Black Sea, either for spawning or foraging, will occur fastest if any remaining locally adapted individuals are allowed to survive, and by conservation and recovery of depleted Mediterranean populations which could through time re-establish local Black Sea spawning and foraging.</p> </div

Hepatitis C virus to hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatitis C virus causes acute and chronic hepatitis and can lead to permanent liver damage and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in a significant number of patients via oxidative stress, insulin resistance (IR), fibrosis, liver cirrhosis and HCV induced steatosis. HCV induced steatosis and oxidative stress causes steato-hepatitis and these pathways lead to liver injury or HCC in chronic HCV infection. Steatosis and oxidative stress crosstalk play an important role in liver damage in HCV infection. This Review illustrates viral and host factors which induce Oxidative stress, steatosis and leads toward HCC. It also expresses Molecular cascade which leads oxidative stress and steatosis to HCC