Fatty Acid Binding Proteins in Prostate Cancer

Abstract : We have shown that there is a distinct pattern of fatty acid binding protein (FAEP) expression in prostate cancer vs normal cells and that finding has be confirmed in patient samples of biopsy specimens. Of 6 different FABP studied, certain WABP were identified as markers that may be exploited to reveal stage or aggressiveness of prostate cancer. Since FAEP are secreted from cells, we have shown that liver WASP was found in the extracellular fluid of prostate cancer but not prostate normal cells and this characteristic may provide an opportunity to use WASP patterns in body fluids as markers for prostate cancer and stage specific screening. Transfection of adipocyte (A) -WASP into prostate cancer cells (that lack A-, but have abundance of L-, and Intestine (1)-WASP) caused the cells to become more normal-like; they showed decreased proliferation and induction of genes involved in apoptosis. Similar results were seen upon using antisense to L-WASP to accomplish the same end results. Those findings indicate that WASP are important in prostate cancer cell regulation. Heteropolyanions show good potential for therapeutic intervention in prostate cancer and key experiments are underway to verify those results in vivo.