Ja. Chah et Js. Rhim, CURRENT STATUS OF PROSTATE-CANCER RESEARCH - DEVELOPMENT OF IN-VITRO MODEL SYSTEMS (REVIEW), International journal of oncology, 5(6), 1994, pp. 1233-1242
Prostate cancer is a major medical problem which is expected to affect
over 200,000 US men in 1994. Despite its widespread prevalence and th
e difficulties in clinical diagnosis and treatment of the disease, the
contribution of environmental factors and the etiological mechanism o
f prostate cancer are poorly understood. A brief update on recent prog
ress in cellular and molecular research of prostate cancer is provided
. Specific areas discussed include oncogenes (vas, myc, c-erbB-2 and b
cl-2), tumor suppressor genes (p53, RB, DCC, putative suppressor genes
), growth factors (EGF, FGF, IGF) and human papillomavirus (HPV) infec
tions. The elucidation of a multistep mechanism of prostate tumorigene
sis has been slowed by a lack of tumor tissue and the limited number o
f in vitro cell lines available for study. Reviewed here are the newly
developed in vitro normal prostate cell systems which supply a base f
or addition of oncogenes and chemical mutagens and may provide insight
into the molecular genetic events which accompany the stepwise induct
ion of prostatic neoplasia.