Brechka Hannah, Bhanvadia Raj R, VanOpstall Calvin, Vander Griend Donald J
The Committee on Cancer Biology, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
The Pritzker School of Medicine, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
Genes Dis. 2017 Jun;4(2):75-87. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2017.01.003. Epub 2017 Feb 16.
The recent and exciting discovery of germline mutations in familial prostate cancer has brought HOX signaling to the forefront of prostate cancer research. An enhanced understanding of HOX signaling, and the co-factors regulating HOX protein specificity and transcriptional regulation, has the high potential to elucidate novel approaches to prevent, diagnose, stage, and treat prostate cancer. Toward our understanding of HOX biology in prostate development and prostate cancer, basic research in developmental model systems as well as other tumor sites provides a mechanistic framework to inform future studies in prostate biology. Here we describe our current understanding of HOX signaling in genitourinary development and cancer, current clinical data of mutations in multiple cancers including prostate cancer, and the role of HOX protein co-factors in development and cancer. These data highlight numerous gaps in our understanding of HOX function in the prostate, and present numerous potentially impactful mechanistic and clinical opportunities for future investigation.
家族性前列腺癌中生殖系突变这一近期令人兴奋的发现，已将HOX信号传导推到前列腺癌研究的前沿。对HOX信号传导以及调节HOX蛋白特异性和转录调控的辅助因子的深入理解，极有可能阐明预防、诊断、分期和治疗前列腺癌的新方法。为了理解HOX生物学在前列腺发育和前列腺癌中的作用，发育模型系统以及其他肿瘤部位的基础研究提供了一个机制框架，为未来前列腺生物学研究提供参考。在此，我们描述了目前对HOX信号传导在泌尿生殖系统发育和癌症中的理解、包括前列腺癌在内的多种癌症中突变的当前临床数据，以及HOX蛋白辅助因子在发育和癌症中的作用。这些数据凸显了我们对前列腺中HOX功能理解上的诸多空白，并为未来研究提供了众多潜在的、有影响力的机制和临床研究机会。
