Prostate cancer is a prevalent disease in Western countries; it is the second leading cause of death in America. Although extensive studies have been made in the field of prostate cancer, how prostate cancer develops and further progresses into metastatic prostate cancer is still largely unknown. Since metastasized cancer is a major cause of death for the patients with prostate cancers, understanding the molecular mechanisms by which metastatic prostate cancer occurs is of significance. Without this important information, cure of prostate cancer becomes less possible. While loss of PTEN tumor suppressor and overexpression of Skp2 are frequently observed in a variety of human cancers, including prostate cancer, and associates with cancer metastasis, it remains unclear whether these two events indeed cooperate to promote prostate cancer progression and metastasis. Lack of such knowledge is an important problem because without it, acquiring the ability to have a good treatment for patient with metastatic breast cancer is highly unlikely. Our proposal will fill in this gap and hopes to provide the molecular basis for prostate cancer progression and metastasis.

It will take roughly 3 years for us to accomplish the aims that we propose here. Once our proposal aims are proven to be legitimate, it indeed advances significantly our current understanding of how prostate cancer develops and further progresses into the metastatic stage. If proven to be right, this proposal will provide an important therapeutic target for advanced breast cancer patients, especially with PTEN inactivation and Skp2 overexpression, two events frequently observed in advanced prostate cancer.