Awareness and knowledge about prostate cancer among male teachers in the Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

Objective: The study was aimed at assessing the awareness and knowledge of prostate cancer (PC) among male teachers in the Sunyani municipality of Ghana. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted using a structured questionnaire to collect data from 160 male teach- ers aged 45 years or more, randomly selected from public elementary and high schools in the Sunyani Municipality. Pearson’s Chi square and Fishers exact tests were used to examine the association between socio-demographic characteristics and knowledge of PC. Results: On average, respondents were aged 50±3.95 years. There was a universal awareness of PC. Most of the respond- ents could identify at least one signs and symptoms of PC (88.1%), risk factors of PC (78.8%), and indicated that PC could be treated through surgery (70.6 %), but only 37.5% of respondents knew about screening tests for PC. The study found 57.5% of them had adequate knowledge about PC. Socio-demographics characteristics were not associated with knowledge about PC. Main sources of information were the television (68%) and radio (57 %). Conclusion: The outcomes of the study suggest the need for general educational campaigns with emphasis on modalities for the screening of PC using the appropriate media channels for accessibility. Keywords: Prostate cancer; awareness; knowledge; male teachers; Ghana.

Extraprostatic extension of gleason 6 prostate cancer: single center experience

Objective: For Gleason Score (GS) 3+3:6 prostate cancer (PC) cases, recent guidelines recommend clinical follow-up instead of radical treatment due to complications. One of the most important disadvantages of clinical follow-up is that low-grade PC may include local aggressive behavior. Hence, our aim here was to investigate the incidence of extraprostatic extension (EPE), a local aggressive behavior, in GS6 PC cases. Material and Methods: We examined 119 materials diagnosed with prostatic adenocarcinoma (GS 3+3:6) with no tertiary pattern and that were sent to our department as radical prostatectomy materials between January 2010 – May 2019. We investigated how many of the materials had EPE. Results: We observed EPE in 16 (13.45%) of our cases. 5 of the cases had vesicula seminalis invasion (pT3b) and 11 had EPE and/or bladder neck invasion (pT3a) without vesicula seminalis invasion. Conclusion: Among our patients diagnosed with GS-6 PC, we observed EPE (pT3) in 13.45% and vesicula seminalis invasion (pT3b) in 4.2%, which suggests that the possibility of EPE is not uncommon in GS-6 PC. Based on these findings, we argue that patients with GS-6 PC under clinical follow-up should be followed more carefully for EPE. Keywords: prostate cancer; gleason score; extraprostatic extension

Risk Factors Associated with Prostate Cancer

Globally prostate cancer is the second most familiar and fifth-most hostile neoplasm among male individuals. One of the emerging issues in men is prostate cancer. The Prostate is a ductal small walnut-shaped gland situated in men below the urinary bladder that produces the seminal fluid for sperms provision and transportation. The risk of emerging prostate cancer during the man’s lifetime is one out of seven. According to the epidemiological studies, different environmental and genetic factors are associated with the progression of abnormal prostate cell growth which ultimately causes the development of cancerous cells. The chances of prostate cancer occurrence are more in those patients with familial member’s history, and it can be more by two to three-folds associated with first-rank relatives to get prostate cancer. In the current review different risk factors which are associated with the development of prostate cancer, are discussed. Keywords: Prostate cancer, Risk factors, Male, BRCA1, BRAC2.

Modern Approach in Radiological Diagnosis of Prostate Cancer (Systematic Review of International Clinical Guidelines and Clinical Studies Over 2014–2020)

An increase in the level of prostate-specific antigen requires additional examination of the patient in order not to subject him to unnecessary treatment in case of clinically insignificant prostate cancer and, conversely, to carry out the necessary volume of measures in case of clinically significant prostate cancer. The paper presents the modern solutions for effective usage of diagnostic methods in visualization of clinically significant prostate cancer. To assess the advantages and disadvantages of various methods for diagnosing prostate cancer a search of publications for 2014–2020 period was conducted based on the Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed databases. The request included keywords: prostate cancer, multiparametric MRI, multiparametric ultrasound, PSMA PET/CT. We selected 27 articles. The review includes guidelines from the European Association of Urology, the American Urological Society, the American College of Radiology, and one practice recommendation.

Robotic radical prostatectomy in the 21 st century: evolution of experience

The advent of novel technologies and surgical techniques has revolutionized urological surgery in recent years. Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) has become the most widely used surgical approach for radical prostatectomy (RP) in the treatment of localized prostate cancer. However, the current available evidence on the benefit of RARP compared to open radical prostatectomy (ORP) is still under debate. Moreover, recent studies have proposed technical modifications of RARP to improve functional outcomes and postoperative quality of life of prostate cancer patients. The aim of this review was to summarize the current evidence on oncological, functional and perioperative outcomes of RARP, considering the results of our series of 408 RARP performed between October 2006 and February 2015 at Clínico San Carlos Hospital, and to provide a framework on the latest and most relevant updates on RARP surgical technique modifications. Keywords Prostate cancer; robot-assisted radical prostatectomy; oncological outcomes; functional outcomes; robotic surgical techniques.

Down-regulation of F-actin and paxillin by N-(3-(1Htetrazol- 1-yl)phenyl) isonicotinamide derivative inhibits proliferation of prostate cancer cells

Purpose: To investigate the effect of N-(3-(1H-tetrazol-1-yl)phenyl) isonicotinamide derivative (TPIN) on prostate cancer cells, and the mechanism involved.Methods: The cytotoxicity of TPIN in DU145 and PC3 cells was determined using Cell Counting Kit-8, while apoptosis induction was assayed by flow cytometry using Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate dye. Changes in expressions of F-actin, RAC-α and paxillin were determined by western blot assay.Results: Cell proliferation was effectively inhibited by TPIN in the concentration range of 0.75-15 μM. The values of half-minimum inhibitory concentration (IC50) of TPIN for DU145 and PC3 cells at 48 h were 5.6 and 10.2 μM, respectively (p < 0.05). Treatment with 5.6 μM TPIN increased apoptosis to 59.64 % in DU145 cells, and 54.21% in PC3 cells. Cleaved caspase-3 and caspase-9 levels were increased by TPIN treatment in both cell lines (p < 0.05). Moreover, the levels of F-actin and paxillin were significantly downregulated by TPIN treatment in DU145 and PC3 cells (p < 0.05). In TPIN-treated DU145 and PC3 cells, cofilin-1expression was up-regulated, relative to control cells.Conclusion: TPIN exhibits cytotoxic effect on prostate cancer cells via activation of apoptosis. It elevates cofilin-1 and the expressions of targets F-actin and paxillin in prostate cancer cells. Thus, TPIN is a potential chemotherapeutic agent for prostate cancer. However, further investigations, including clinical trials are required to authenticate these findings. Keywords: Prostate cancer, F-actin, Paxillin, Apoptosis, Caspases

Frequency of IL-10+CD19+ B cells in patients with prostate cancer compared to patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Background: The function of the immune system in prostate cancer (PC) might promote carcinogenesis. PC is a common cancer in men. Regulatory B cells (Bregs) are a new subtype of B cells that have suppressive roles in the immune system. Inter- leukin-10 (IL-10) is a dominant mediator of immune suppression released by Bregs. Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine the frequency of CD19+IL10+ B cells and IL-10 mRNA expression in patients with PC compared to patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: Forty paraffin tissue samples from patients with PC and 32 paraffin tissue samples from patients with BPH were en- tered in this study. The immunohistochemistry staining was used to evaluate the pattern expression of CD19 and IL-10 markers. IL-10 mRNA expression in fresh tissue was determined by real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Results: The frequency of CD19+IL-10+ B cells and IL-10 mRNA expression in PC patients were significantly higher than patients with BPH. Also, there was no meaningful relationship between the frequency of IL-10+CD19+ B cells and gleason scores in patients with PC. Conclusions: Our findings suggested that frequency of IL-10+CD19+ B cells correlates with progressive stage of PC. Keywords: Prostate cancer; benign prostatic hyperplasia; IL-10+CD19+ B cells.

New Frontiers in Prostate Cancer Treatment: Are We Ready for Drug Combinations with Novel Agents?

Medical treatment for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients has progressively been evolving from a nonspecific clinical approach to genomics-oriented therapies. The scientific community is in fact increasingly focusing on developing DNA damage repair (DDR) defect-driven novel molecules, both as single-agent therapy and in combined treatment strategies. Accordingly, research is under way into combined drug therapies targeting different pathways, e.g. androgen receptor signaling (ARS) and poly (adenosine diphosphate [ADP]-ribose) polymerase (PARP) enzymes, immune checkpoint (IC) and PARP, IC, and ARS, and prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). In an attempt to formulate evolving treatment paradigms in mCRPC patients, here we selected clinical research into patients undergoing therapies with emerging molecules, with particular emphasis towards PARP-, IC-, and PSMA-inhibitors. In order to focus on those molecules and drug combinations most likely to be translated into routine clinical care in the near future, we selected only those clinical studies currently recruiting patients. A PubMed search focusing on the keywords “prostate cancer”, “metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer”, “DDR pathways”, “ARS inhibitors”, “PARP inhibitors”, “IC inhibitors”, “PSMA-targeting agents”, and “drug combinations” was performed.

The Clinicopathological Characteristics of Androgen Receptor Splicing Variant 7 (AR-V7) Expression in Patients with Castration Resistance Prostate Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

BACKGROUND Accumulating studies indicate AR-V7 may be related to the poor prognosis of castration resistance prostate cancer (CRPC), while the evidence of the clinicopathological characteristics of AR-V7 is rare. METHODS To evaluate the clinicopathological features of AR-V7 in CRPC patients. A search of PubMed, Embase, and the Web of Science was performed using the keywords prostate cancer, prostate tumor, prostate neoplasm, prostate carcinoma; AR-V7, AR3, androgen receptor splicing variant-7, or androgen receptor-3. Twenty-four trials published due February 2020 were enrolled. RESULTS The proportion of Gleason score ≥ 8 was significantly higher in AR-V7-positive CRPC (69.5%) than negative (54.9%) (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.25–2.25, P<0.001), while the rate of T3/T4 stage (OR 1.16, 95% CI 0.60–2.24, P=0.65) and N1 stage (OR 0.99, 95% CI 0.65–1.51, P=0.96) were not statistically related to AR-V7 status. AR-V7-ositive patients had a significantly higher proportion of any site metastasis (61.3% versus 35.0%) (OR 2.19, 95% CI 1.57–3.05, P<0.001) and bone metastasis (81.7% versus 69.0%) (OR 1.97, 95% CI 1.44–2.69, P<0.001), and a trend close to significance was expected in visceral metastasis (28.8% versus 22.1%) (OR 1.29, 95% CI 0.96–1.74, P=0.09). The percentage of pain presence in AR-V7-positive CRPC (54.6%) was prominently higher than negative (28.1%) (OR 4.23, 95% CI 2.52–7.10, P<0.001), line with worse ECOG performance status (56.7% versus 35.0%, OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.51–3.16, P<0.001). Limitations of the study include the differences in study sample size and design, AR-V7 detection assay, and disease characteristics. CONCLUSIONS AR-V7 positivity was associated with higher Gleason score, bone or any site metastasis, presence of pain and worse ECOG performance score in CRPC, but not related to tumor stage or lymph node metastasis. More studies are needed to confirm these findings.

miR-203 Inhibits Cell Proliferation and ERK Pathway in Prostate Cancer by Targeting IRS-1

Background: Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the most common types of cancer in men. In the course of the development and progression of this disease, abnormal expression of miR-203 is usually accompanied. However, its role in prostate tumorigenesis and the underlying mechanism are poorly understood. Methods: Dual luciferase reporter gene analysis was used to detect miR-203 binding site in insulin receptor substrates 1 (IRS-1). Cell proliferation was assessed by MTT assay in PCa cells which either IRS-1 was knocked down by shRNA or miR-203 was overexpressed. IRS-1 and other proteins expression in PCa cells was assessed by Western Blot. Results: we found that the insulin receptor substrates 1 (IRS-1) is a novel target of miR-203 in PCa and miR-203 can specially bind to the 3′UTR region of the IRS-1 thus suppresses its expression. Moreover, we demonstrate that miR-203 functions as a tumor suppressor by directly targeting IRS-1 to inhibit cell proliferation, migration and tumor angiogenesis which resulted in PCa cell cycle arrest. Importantly, miR-203 overexpression blocks ERK signaling pathway by down-regulating IRS-1 expression. Conclusions: Our results show a novel link between miR-203 and IRS-1, and reveal the importance of strict control of IRS -1 by miR-203 in the progression of PCa, suggesting miR-203 may act as a promising target for the diagnosis and treatment of advanced PCa. Keywords: Prostate cancer, miRNA, Insulin receptor substrates 1 (IRS-1), cell proliferation, ERK pathway