Peptide growth factors and prostate cancer: new models, new opportunities

Prostate cancer is the leading form of newly diagnosed cancer cases in men in the United States. However, the molecular mechanisms contributing to the initiation, progression and ultimate development of metastatic and androgen independent disease are poorly understood. This is due in part to the difficulty in obtaining clinical samples representing early disease and the lack of animal models that recapitulate the full spectrum of the clinical disease. To this end we have developed and characterized the Transgenic Adenocarcinoma of Mouse Prostate (TRAMP) animal model that expresses the oncogene SV40 T antigen specifically in the epithelium of the prostate. TRAMP develops spontaneous autochthonous prostate cancer compelte with distant site metastasis and can progress to androgen independent disease. Changes in the fibroblast growth factor (FGF) axis and the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis have been examined during prostate cancer progression utilizing the TRAMP model and these data generally support observations reproted in the clinical disease. Moreover, we report novel changes in the FGF axis and IGF axis utilizing TRAMP. Thus, TRAMP can be used as a potent tool in understanding the mechanism of prostate cancer initiation and progression.