• Composite endpoint
• adaptive weighting
• multi-state transition model
• restricted mean survival time
• time-to-event outcomes

• Humans
• Algorithms
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic/statistics & numerical data
• Treatment Outcome
• Longitudinal Studies
• Models, Statistical
• Survival Analysis
• Computer Simulation

• Effectively Maintained Inequality
• Health insurance
• Patterns of Inequality
• Racial/ethnic differences

• Age-period-cohort effect
• Incidence
• Joinpoint regression analysis
• Mortality
• Prostate cancer
• Trends

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Age Distribution
• Aged
• China/epidemiology
• Cohort Effect
• Humans
• Incidence
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Prostatic Neoplasms/epidemiology
• Prostatic Neoplasms/mortality
• Young Adult

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-mediated signaling has been implicated in invasion, metastasis, and survival of various cancers. Activation of TLR4 can promote cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB). However, little is known about the effects of TLR4/COX-2 in prostate cancer (PCa).

In our study, TLR4 and COX-2 expressions were detected by quantitative real-time reverse transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) in PCa tissues (n=34). Cell proliferation was measured by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) and carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) assays. The migration and invasion abilities were detected by wound healing and Transwell assays. qRT-PCR and western blot assays were performed to detect TLR4, COX-2, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1, epithelial-cadherin (E-cadherin), vimentin, NF-κB (p65), and p-p65 expressions.

The results revealed that TLR4 and COX-2 were upregulated in PCa tissues; Silencing of TLR4 or COX-2 inhibited PCa cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and TLR4 siRNAs combined with COX-2 siRNAs synergistically suppressed PCa cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. Silencing of TLR4 or COX-2 also downregulated MMP-2, MMP-9, and E-cadherin expressions, and upregulated TIMP-1 and vimentin expressions. In addition, silencing of TLR4 or COX-2 inhibited p65 phosphorylation and had a synergistic effect.

We demonstrated that TLR4/COX-2 inhibits PCa cell proliferation, migration, and invasion by regulating NF-κB.

At 13 years of follow-up, the European Randomized Study of Screening for Prostate Cancer shows a 21% decrease in prostate cancer deaths in the prostate-specific antigen-screened group compared to control. This difference increases to 27% when non compliance is taken into account. The benefits of screening compared to control are higher at 28% (compared to 21%) when duration of follow-up ranges between 8 and 12 years. Such data obtained following an average rate of one screening performed once every 5.7 years in quite impressive and strongly supports the use of screening for a successful fight against a cancer which grows to an advanced and non curable stage without any specific sign or symptom.

• Prostate cancer
• Screening
• Prostate-specific antigen
• Early diagnosis
• Early treatment

Introduction. The detection of tumor-specific markers in urine has paved the way for new early noninvasive diagnostic approaches for prostate cancer. We evaluated the DNA integrity in urine supernatant to verify its capacity to discriminate between prostate cancer and benign diseases of the urogenital tract. Patients and Methods. A total of 131 individuals were enrolled: 67 prostate cancer patients and 64 patients with benign diseases of the urogenital tract (control group). Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were determined. Urine cell-free (UCF) DNA was isolated and sequences longer than 250 bp corresponding to 3 genes (c-MYC, HER2, and AR) were quantified by Real-Time PCR to assess UCF-DNA integrity. Results. UCF-DNA was quantifiable in all samples, while UCF-DNA integrity was evaluable in all but 16 samples. Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed an area under the curve of 0.5048 for UCF-DNA integrity and 0.8423 for PSA. Sensitivity was 0.58 and 0.95 for UCF-DNA integrity and PSA, respectively. Specificity was 0.44 and 0.69, respectively. Conclusions. UCF-DNA integrity showed lower accuracy than PSA and would not seem to be a reliable marker for early prostate cancer diagnosis. Despite this, we believe that UCF-DNA could represent a source of other biomarkers and could detect gene alterations.