Comparison of dose-dependent enhancing effects of gamma-ray irradiation on urethan-induced lung tumorigenesis in athymic nude (nu/nu) mice ac (nu/+) littermates

Cyclin A1 and P450 Aromatase Promote Metastatic Homing and Growth of Stem-like Prostate Cancer Cells in the Bone Marrow

Bone metastasis is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in prostate cancer. While cancer stem-like cells have been implicated as a cell of origin for prostate cancer metastasis, the pathways that enable metastatic development at distal sites remain largely unknown. In this study, we illuminate pathways relevant to bone metastasis in this disease. We observed that cyclin A1 (CCNA1) protein expression was relatively higher in prostate cancer metastatic lesions in lymph node, lung, and bone/bone marrow. In both primary and metastatic tissues, cyclin A1 expression was also correlated with aromatase (CYP19A1), a key enzyme that directly regulates the local balance of androgens to estrogens. Cyclin A1 overexpression in the stem-like ALDH(high) subpopulation of PC3M cells, one model of prostate cancer, enabled bone marrow integration and metastatic growth. Further, cells obtained from bone marrow metastatic lesions displayed self-renewal capability in colony-forming assays. In the bone marrow, cyclin A1 and aromatase enhanced local bone marrow-releasing factors, including androgen receptor, estrogen and matrix metalloproteinase MMP9 and promoted the metastatic growth of prostate cancer cells. Moreover, ALDH(high) tumor cells expressing elevated levels of aromatase stimulated tumor/host estrogen production and acquired a growth advantage in the presence of host bone marrow cells. Overall, these findings suggest that local production of steroids and MMPs in the bone marrow may provide a suitable microenvironment for ALDH(high) prostate cancer cells to establish metastatic growths, offering new approaches to therapeutically target bone metastases. Cancer Res; 76(8); 2453-64. ©2016 AACR.

Medical countermeasures for radiation combined injury: radiation with burn, blast, trauma and/or sepsis. report of an NIAID Workshop, March 26-27, 2007

Non-clinical human radiation exposure events such as the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings or the Chernobyl accident are often coupled with other forms of injury, such as wounds, burns, blunt trauma, and infection. Radiation combined injury would also be expected after a radiological or nuclear attack. Few animal models of radiation combined injury exist, and mechanisms underlying the high mortality associated with complex radiation injuries are poorly understood. Medical countermeasures are currently available for management of the non-radiation components of radiation combined injury, but it is not known whether treatments for other insults will be effective when the injury is combined with radiation exposure. Further research is needed to elucidate mechanisms behind the synergistic lethality of radiation combined injury and to identify targets for medical countermeasures. To address these issues, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases convened a workshop to make recommendations on the development of animal models of radiation combined injury, possible mechanisms of radiation combined injury, and future directions for countermeasure research, including target identification and end points to evaluate treatment efficacy.