Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

Spring 5-14-2015

Faculty Advisor(s)

Marco Bisoffi

Abstract

The androgen receptor (AR) plays an essential role in promoting the development and progression of metastatic prostate cancer and represents an important molecular target for therapeutic intervention. We have recently described a series of synthetic analogs of the natural product diferuloylmethane (curcumin), some of which induce the down-regulation of AR expression in prostate cancer cells by an as yet largely unknown mechanism of action. While such analogs may in the long term be lead structures for the development of therapeutic drugs, we hypothesize here that they represent ideal molecular probes to identify the mechanism(s) of action for AR down-regulation. We have previously identified the synthetic analog Ca27 as an inhibitor of the AR, yet its mechanisms of action remain unclear. Towards this goal, we have established AR specific immunofluorescence in human prostate cancer cells and its quantitative analysis by densitometry of digitized images. These methods will allow us to test our main hypothesis whether Ca27 inhibits AR function by interfering the translocation of the AR from the cytoplasm to the nucleus, which is part of its activation. This finding would contribute to a better understanding of AR interference, which may be exploited as a therapeutic strategy for prostate cancer.

Comments

Presented at the Spring 2015 Student Research Day at Chapman University.

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