近日，加拿大麥克馬司特大學（McMaster University）健康科學系的兩名研究者獲得了加拿大前列腺癌研究基金會的獎助金。
前列腺癌是僅次于由吸煙引起的肺癌的第二大男性癌癥殺手。加拿大前列腺癌癥研究基金會估計每八個加拿大男性中就有一個會患上這種疾病，而其中的四分之一會因此而喪失生命。
醫學助理教授Damu Tang獲得了12萬美元用于研究新近確認的蛋白質PTEN，以弄清它在阻止前列腺癌發病進程中的重要作用。
在前列腺癌的早期，腫瘤的生長需要雄激素，直到發展到一定程度雄性激素不再被需要。臨床觀察證明有50％的晚期前列腺腫瘤中沒有PTEN。研究者認為，PTEN的缺損令機體失去了一道關鍵防線，使前列腺癌的演進不再依賴雄激素。
生物化學和生物醫學助理教授Sujata Persad獲得了6萬美元用于研究β－連環蛋白，它與前列腺癌的初起、發展和轉移有較大的關聯。β－連環蛋白在細胞中有兩種重要作用：使細胞粘合在一起并促進細胞的生長和生存。
β－連環蛋白可以在結構上接上糖分子而被修飾。Persad的研究小組將研究β－連環蛋白被修飾后在促進細胞的生長和存活上的作用是否會受到影響。
在前列腺腫瘤細胞中該蛋白被修飾的比率小于正常細胞，用糖分子修飾的方法調整β－連環蛋白的功能可能會阻止前列腺腫瘤細胞的形成。
麥克馬司特大學座落于加拿大哈密爾頓市，擁有世界一流的師資、知識水平和研究設備，在校生超過2萬3千人，并有11萬2千多名女校友分布于128個國家。
原文：
New prostate cancer studies look at hormone and protein connection
29 Apr 2005
Two
researchers at McMaster University's Faculty of Health Sciences have
been awarded research grants from the Prostate Cancer Research
Foundation of Canada.
Prostate cancer is the second most deadly
form of cancer in men after smoke related lung cancer. It is estimated
by the Prostate Foundation of Canada that one in eight Canadian men will
develop the disease, and one in four of them will die from prostate
cancer.
Damu Tang, assistant professor, Medicine, has received
$120,000 to research the newly identified protein PTEN, to see how
important it is in preventing prostate cancer progression.
In
its early stage, prostate cancer requires the hormone androgen to grow,
until it progresses to a point where androgen is no longer needed.
Clinical observations demonstrate clearly that 50 percent of advanced
prostate cancers have no PTEN.
It is believed that the loss of
PTEN removes a crucial protection, which facilitates prostate cancer
progression into the androgen-independent stage.
Sujata Persad,
assistant professor, Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences was awarded
$60,000 to study Beta-catenin, a protein highly associated with prostate
cancer initiation, progression and metastases. Beta-catenin plays two
important roles inside cells: it functions to glue cells to each other
and it promotes cell growth and survival.
Beta--catenin can be
modified by having sugar molecules attached to its structure. Persad's
team will investigate whether modifying beta-catenin affects its role in
promoting cell growth and survival. Modification happens less
frequently in prostate cancer cells than in normal prostate cells, and
using sugar modification may regulate the function of beta-catenin to
prevent tumor formation in prostate cells.
McMaster University,
named Canada's Research University of the Year by Research InfoSource,
has world-renowned faculty and state-of-the-art research facilities.
McMaster's culture of innovation fosters a commitment to discovery and
learning in teaching, research and scholarship. Based in Hamilton, the
University has a student population of more than 23,000 and more than
112,000 alumni in 128 countries.