Endocrine Abstracts

Prostate stem cells have been proposed to participate in prostate cancer initiation. Furthermore, based on their androgen-independence, they are suspected to trigger prostate cancer recurrence when the tumor is no longer responsive to anti-androgens. Therefore better understanding the regulation of this particular cell pool may have important therapeutic relevance. In the human prostate, expression of prolactin (PRL) and activation of its major downstream signaling effector St...

Androgen-independent recurrence is the major limit of androgen ablation therapy for prostate cancer. Identification of alternative pathways promoting prostate tumor growth is thus needed. Signal transducer and activator of transcription 5 (Stat5) has been recently shown to promote human prostate cancer cell survival/proliferation and to be associated with early prostate cancer recurrence. Stat5 is the main signaling pathway triggered by prolactin (PRL), a polypeptide hormone m...

Experimental, clinical and/or epidemiological evidence points to a role for prolactin (PRL) in the promotion of benign and malignant tumors of the breast and the prostate. However, therapies reducing PRL levels (dopamine agonists) are currently not considered for the treatment of these pathologies. Dopamine agonists only target PRL secretion from the pituitary, while recent observations suggest that the involvement of autocrine PRL is perhaps even more relevant than circulatin...