雄激素受体在前列腺癌中的抗凋亡效应研究进展

Anti-apoptotic Effect of the Androgen Receptor in Human Prostate Cancer

前列腺癌(PCa)是中老年男性多发癌症之一,目前针对晚期转移性患者的主要治疗手段是去雄激素治疗,但是绝大部分患者最终都进展为侵袭性更强的激素非依赖型PCa,而对此类患者尚无有效治疗方法。雄激素受体(AR)是前列腺上皮细胞分化与增生的基本调节因子,在调控PCa细胞存活机制方面具有非常重要作用。目前的研究结果已经表明在激素非依赖型PCa进展过程中,AR的非正常激活是关键性因素。现简要综述AR调控的PCa细胞存活机制以及针对它而设计的RNA干扰技术对PCa的治疗运用方面的进展。

Prostate cancer is one of the common cancers in old men. Androgen ablation is a major option for the treatment of the meta- static disoases. However, most of the cancers progress to a more aggressive stage, so-called androgen-independent （ or hormone refrac- tory） relapse beyond any cure. The androgen receptor （AR） is an important factor in regulating the differentiation and proliferation of prostate epithelial cells, and also plays a critical role in cellular survival. Studies have demonstrated that aberrant activation of the AR is a major determinant in prostate cancer progression. We have provide a brief summary of AR-mediated cellular survival and an intro- duction to the advances of RNA interference techniques in silencing AR expression as a novel therapy for prostate cancer.