Faculty Bibliography

In the United States, prostate cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in men. While the importance of androgens and androgen receptors (ARs) in primary prostate cancer is well established, the role of ARs in prostate cancers that emerge despite androgen ablation therapies remains poorly understood. The aim of this article is to illustrate the fundamental biology of prostate cancer. We focus mainly on the AR because of its critical role in the progression and metastatic spread of prostate cancer. We also summarize the alternate pathways that may potentially contribute to the progression of prostate cancer. Identifying the underlying mechanisms of androgen independence is crucial in the design of appropriate therapies for hormone-refractory neoplasms.

BACKGROUND:Tobacco smoking leads to lung cancer. Approximately 10% of patients with lung cancer are life long never-smokers. There are only limited data available on the clinical characteristics and outcomes of lung cancer in never-smokers from the Western hemisphere. METHODS:Demographic and survival information was collected on 254 never-smokers with a confirmed pathologic diagnosis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by reviewing their medical records and the Social Security database. RESULTS:The study population consisted of 182 (71.6%) women and 72 (28.3%) men. The median age was 70 years (range: 31-91 years). Adenocarcinoma was the most common histology accounting for 60.8% of all patients, followed by NSCLC not otherwise specified (14.4%), bronchoalveolar carcinoma (13.6%), squamous cell carcinoma (8.8%), and large-cell type (2.4%). Majority of patients presented with stage III or IV disease (62.5%). We compared survival between never-smokers and smokers with NSCLC matched for gender, histology, tumor stage, and years of diagnosis. No significant difference in 5-year survival was seen between never-smokers (27.2%) and smokers with NSCLC (31.3%; p = 0.73). CONCLUSIONS:Two thirds of patients with lung cancer who report no history of tobacco smoking are women. In the matched case-control analysis, we report no significant survival difference between lung cancer in never-smokers and those with history of tobacco smoking and lung cancer.

Pneumocystis pneumonia is typically life-threatening in immunocompromised patients. It is relatively uncommon in patients with lung cancer. We report a case of pneumocystis pneumonia in a patient with advanced stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following treatment with concurrent chemoradiation with a pemetrexed containing regimen. To our knowledge, this is the first report on pneumocystis pneumonia following administration of pemetrexed containing regimen.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men and the ninth most common cancer in women. Bladder is not a common site for metastasis of cancer and often goes undiagnosed in the clinical follow up of cancer patients. We reviewed the literature for published reports on metastatic cancer involving bladder. MATERIALS AND METHODS/METHODS:We searched MEDLINE, PubMed and OVID from 1953 to June 2005 for published reports on metastatic cancer involving bladder. They key words used were bladder, cancer and metastatic. A total of 2405 abstracts were reviewed. All relevant articles reporting metastatic cancer to the bladder were reviewed. RESULTS:We found 264 cases of metastasis to the bladder from various primary foci. We found that a majority of these malignancies had primary foci in the genitourinary tract and the colon and rectum. Of the malignancies arising from distant foci, melanomas appear to be the most common followed by breast and gastric carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS:The definitive diagnosis of metastatic bladder cancers is often difficult, and poses a significant challenge to the physician, pathologist and the radiologist alike. Bladder adenocarcinomas are uncommon and any adenocarcinoma of the bladder should be viewed with a high index of suspicion for a metastatic cancer from a distant focus.

Signaling pathways responsible for embryogenesis play a critical role in the maintenance of stem cells in adult life and cellular responses to injury. Dysfunction of the developmental signaling pathways during adult homeostasis leads to various events resulting in the development of neoplasia. We review the biology of the hedgehog signaling pathway and its potential role in the development of lung cancer.