FRONTIERS IN PROSTATE-CANCER - TELOMERES AND CHAOS

New frontiers are emerging in our understanding of the biology of pros tate cancer. Four topics are addressed in this article. The first topi c addressed is the search for candidate genes for cancer susceptibilit y that are related to familial forms of prostate cancer, Second, the d emonstration of a correlation between prostate cancer, shortened telom ere lengths, and the appearance of telomerase activity as well as rela ted findings regarding cellular senescence and immortalilty are presen ted. Third, epigenetic aspects of tumorigenesis, in particular, the re cognition that cancer-related genes only function within the context o f certain cell types, are discussed, This tissue specificity is dictat ed, in part, by the cell matrix structures that serve to hard wire the interaction of the DNA with the external environment. Fourth, concept s recently developed in the fields of complexity and chaos theory are discussed that may offer a better understanding of the fundamental cha nges in tumor cell morphology and heterogeneity, which are hallmarks o f the cancer state. Specifically, the authors discuss the concept that dynamic attractors may dictate the three-dimensional organization of the DNA within the nucleus through interactions with the nuclear matri x. The nuclear matrix is a dynamic scaffolding structure, which tempor ally and spatially organizes the genome and plays a major role in dete rmining tissue specificity, The authors believe that the new principle s and concepts presented in this article will provide additional insig ht into prostate cancer as well as potential foci for future therapeut ic interventions.