Prostate cancer is one of the leading health threats to man,and like many other cancers,early detection and treatment iscrucial to improving the prognosis of patients.Progression of the disease from noninvasive high-g...Prostate cancer is one of the leading health threats to man,and like many other cancers,early detection and treatment iscrucial to improving the prognosis of patients.Progression of the disease from noninvasive high-grade prostatic intraepi-thelial neoplasia (HGPIN) to invasive adenocarcinoma is linked to the action of a group of proteolytic enzymes calledmatrix metalloproteinases (MMPs),which digest various components of the extracellular matrix and thus open waysfor tumor metastasis.Previous studies have shown that one MMP,MMP-26,is expressed at a significantly higher levelin human prostate carcinoma than in normal prostate tissues,and that it appears to play an important role in promotinginvasion of prostate cancer cells [1].In this issue of Cell Research,Lee et al.report detailed analyses of the expressionpattern of MMP-26,along with its most potent endogenous inhibitor,TIMP-4 (TIMP stands for tissue inhibitor ofmetal-loproteinases),in a number of prostate cancer samples derived from human patients [2].Interestingly,they found展开更多
文摘Prostate cancer is one of the leading health threats to man,and like many other cancers,early detection and treatment iscrucial to improving the prognosis of patients.Progression of the disease from noninvasive high-grade prostatic intraepi-thelial neoplasia (HGPIN) to invasive adenocarcinoma is linked to the action of a group of proteolytic enzymes calledmatrix metalloproteinases (MMPs),which digest various components of the extracellular matrix and thus open waysfor tumor metastasis.Previous studies have shown that one MMP,MMP-26,is expressed at a significantly higher levelin human prostate carcinoma than in normal prostate tissues,and that it appears to play an important role in promotinginvasion of prostate cancer cells [1].In this issue of Cell Research,Lee et al.report detailed analyses of the expressionpattern of MMP-26,along with its most potent endogenous inhibitor,TIMP-4 (TIMP stands for tissue inhibitor ofmetal-loproteinases),in a number of prostate cancer samples derived from human patients [2].Interestingly,they found
