(Credit: Image courtesy of Lund University)
耐激素治疗和耐放疗或化疗的前列腺癌需要新的治疗方法。近日，隆德大学的研究人员开发出一种新的治疗手段——攻击前列腺癌中具有干细胞样特征的细胞。
斯科讷大学马尔默医院医学院部的泌尿科癌症研究教授Rebecka Hellsten高级研究员和Anders Bjartell教授，隆德大学学院有机化学部的助理教授Martin Johansson领导了两个研究小组合作开展了这项跨学科研究项目，最新研究成果刊登在PLoS ONE杂志上。
Anders Bjartell说：“前列腺肿瘤组织中只包含约0.1％的肿瘤干细胞，但如果不能成功地消除这些干细胞，肿瘤发展过程中细胞生长仍会有失控的危险。肿瘤干细胞通常对激素治疗和化疗反应迟钝（不敏感），所以有必要开发出一种可以对所有类型的肿瘤细胞都有作用的治疗方法。”
研究小组通过研究前列腺癌肿瘤细胞的生物学行为发现，蛋白STAT3对干细胞样前列腺癌细胞的生物学功能发挥重要作用。研究小组以往的研究已经证明，一种天然化合物——Galiellalactone能影响STAT3，抑制前列腺癌细胞的生长。
研究人员希望用Galiellalactone当作工具药，开发出新的特异性的STAT3抑制剂，能针对性地攻击前列腺癌中干细胞样的肿瘤细胞，进而抑制肿瘤的生长和扩散。(生物谷 Bioon.com)
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022118
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Galiellalactone Inhibits Stem Cell-Like ALDH-Positive Prostate Cancer Cells
Rebecka Hellsten, Martin Johansson, Anna Dahlman, Olov Sterner, Anders Bjartell
Transcriptional coregulators control the activity of many transcription factors and are thought to have wide-ranging effects on gene expression patterns. We show here that muscle-specific loss of nuclear receptor corepressor 1 (NCoR1) in mice leads to enhanced exercise endurance due to an increase of both muscle mass and of mitochondrial number and activity. The activation of selected transcription factors that control muscle function, such as MEF2, PPARβ/, and ERRs, underpins these phenotypic alterations. NCoR1 levels are decreased in conditions that require fat oxidation, resetting transcriptional programs to boost oxidative metabolism. Knockdown of gei-8, the sole C. elegans NCoR homolog, also robustly increased muscle mitochondria and respiration, suggesting conservation of NCoR1 function. Collectively, our data suggest that NCoR1 plays an adaptive role in muscle physiology and that interference with NCoR1 action could be used to improve muscle function.
