Prostate cancers that progress during androgen-deprivation therapy often overexpress the androgen receptor (AR) and depend on AR signaling for growth. In most cases, increased AR expression occurs without gene amplification and may be due to altered transcriptional regulation. The transcription factor nuclear factor (NF)-κB, which is implicated in tumorigenesis, functions as an important downstrea

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To delineate how recent findings on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) can improve prediction of risk, detection, and prediction of clinical endpoints of prostate cancer (PCa). RECENT FINDINGS: The widely used PSA cut-point of 4.0 ng/ml increasingly appears arbitrary, but no cut-point achieves both high sensitivity and high specificity. The accuracy of detecting PCa can be increase

Reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assays have been used for analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), but their clinical value has yet to be established. We assessed men with localized prostate cancer or castration-refractory prostate cancer (CRPC) for CTCs via real-time RT-PCR assays for KLK3 [kallikrein-related peptidase 3; i.e., prostate-specific antigen (PSA)] and KLK2 mRNAs. We also assess

Purpose: To assess the feasibility of characterizing gene copy number alteration by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) of circulating tumor cells (CTC) isolated using the Cell Search system in patients with progressive castration-resistant metastatic prostate cancer. Experimental Design: We used probe combinations that included the androgen receptor (AR)and MYC genes for FISH analysis of CT

Purpose Pretreatment prostate-specific antigen (PSA) dynamics (PSA velocity and PSA doubling time) are widely advocated as useful prognostic markers in prostate cancer. We aimed to assess the published evidence for the clinical utility of PSA dynamics in this population. Methods We conducted a systematic review of studies published before March 2007 in which a PSA dynamic (velocity or doubling tim

BACKGROUND: Updated National Academy of Clinical Biochemistry (NACB) Laboratory Medicine Practice Guidelines for the use of tumor markers in the clinic have been developed. METHODS: Published reports relevant to use of tumor markers for 5 cancer sites - testicular, prostate, colorectal, breast, and ovarian - were critically reviewed. RESULTS: For testicular cancer, α-fetoprotein, human chorionic g

BACKGROUND. There is wide interest in the use of molecular markers for the early detection of cancer, the prediction of disease outcome, and the selection of patients for chemotherapy. Despite significant and increasing research activity, to the authors' knowledge only a small number of molecular markers have been successfully integrated into clinical practice. In the current study, the experiment

Introduction: Due to its universal applicability for early detection and prediction of cancer stage and disease recurrence, widespread implementation of serum-based prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurements has a significant influence on current treatment strategies for men with prostate cancer (PCa). However, over-detection and the resultant over-treatment of indolent cancers have been strongl

We have constructed two phagemid vectors containing the gene coding for human Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) translationally fused to a pelB signal sequence and minor coat protein III of phage fd leading to phage particles that carry PSA on their tips. Phages were characterized by Western blotting and by panning, using biotinylated monoclonal anti-PSA antibodies immobilized onto streptavidin-coat

Protein C inhibitor (PCI), a serine‐proteinase inhibitor first purified from human blood plasma, occurs at high concentrations (3–4 μM) in seminal fluid in both a high‐molecular‐mass and low‐molecular‐mass form. Immunochemical data have previously suggested that PCI in seminal plasma forms complexes with the most abundant serine proteinase in semen, prostate‐specific antigen (PSA). To provide a st

This issue marks the start of my term as department editor for the “Requirements” column. I very much look forward to exploring contemporary aspects of requirements and requirements engineering (RE) in the coming years! As an institute researcher with RISE, I primarily work in strictly regulated domains, in which requirements are cornerstones in the development activities. Please check my introduc

Background. Prostate specific antigen (PSA) is a zymogen of a 33‐kilodalton (kD) serine proteinase with extensive similarity to glandular kallikreins. The mechanism responsible for converting the zymogen into active proteinase has not been defined, but active PSA may be irreversibly inactivated in vitro by two of the major proteinase inhibitors in blood: alpha1‐antichymotrypsin and alpha2‐macroglo

A complete cDNA clone encoding the human acrosin-trypsin inhibitor HUSI-II has been isolated from a cDNA library of human testis and completely sequenced. The cDNA of 594 bp contained an open reading frame of 252 base pairs, The deduced amino acid sequence comprised the complete amino acid sequence of HUSI-II[1] and a putative signal peptide. Northern blotting analysis revealed that HUSI-II is syn

The proteolytic degradation of human seminal fluid proteins at acidic conditions has been investigated. Upon acidification to the pH level of the human vagina, autoproteolysis of most seminal fluid proteins occurred after 30 minute of incubation at 37°C. The degradation was unaffected by inhibitors of serine, thiol, or me‐tallo proteases, whereas pepstatin prevented any proteolysis. The proteins i

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and human glandular kallikrein 1 (hGK-1) are structurally similar products of the human glandular kallikrein gene locus on chromosome 19 that become selectively expressed by human prostate tissue. PSA is one of the most abundant prostate-derived proteins in the seminal fluid. The mature form of PSA, a single-chain glycoprotein of 237 amino acids, is a serine proteas

Summary Semenogelin is the predominant protein in human semen. It is synthetised by the secretory epithelium of the seminal vesicles as a 461 amino acid precursor protein. Following cleavage of a predominantly hydrophobic signal peptide, the secreted protein contains 439 amino acid residues. The amino acid sequence of semenogelin has a repetitive structure, but it displays no significant homology

Summary Prostatic acid phosphatase (PAP), prostate‐specific antigen (PSA; or γ‐seminoprotein), and β‐microseminoprotein (β‐MSP; PSP94 or β‐inhibin) are the three predominant proteins secreted by the normal human prostate gland. In the epithelium of normal and hyperplastic prostatic acini and ducts PAP, PSA and β‐MSP have an identical immunohistochemical localization. Highly differentiated (grade I

Prostate specific antigen is an abundant prostate-derived serine protease in the seminal fluid. Low concentrations of the protein are normally released into blood, but above normal concentrations are frequently detected in prostate disease. The PSA-ACT complex is the predominant molecular form of serum PSA (up to ≃95%) although complex formation is slow between the purified proteins in vitro. A fr