Vesa Rahkama

University of Helsinki | HY · Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)

Background: Most precision cancer medicine efforts are based on the identification of oncogenic driver mutations by genome sequencing. We believe and have emerging evidence that this will miss therapeutic opportunities and additional technologies, such as cell-based functional testing should be included. Pioneering studies in leukemia indicate the...

The identification of fluorescently stained cell nuclei is the basis of cell detection, segmentation, and feature extraction in high content microscopy experiments. The nuclear morphology of single cells is also one of the essential indicators of phenotypic variation. However, the cells used in experiments can lose their contact inhibition, and can...

Culture of human prostate cancer (PCa) progenitor cells would facilitate the discovery and testing of new, potentially curative therapies for PCa. Here, we established and characterized patient-derived conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRCs) from seven patients to determine their biological properties (genomic, transcriptomic, protein expression) a...

Background: Technology development to enable the culture of human prostate cancer (PCa) progenitor cells is required for the identification of new, potentially curative therapies for PCa. Objective: We established and characterized patient-derived conditionally reprogrammed cells (CRCs) to assess their biological properties and to apply these to...

FOX (forkhead box) protein A1 has been dubbed a pioneer transcription factor, since it binds target sites in DNA, thereby displacing nucleosomes to loosen chromatin and facilitating steroid receptor DNA binding nearby. FOXA1 is an important regulator of prostate development, collaborating with androgen receptor (AR). Post-translational modification...

Prostate cancer growth depends on androgens. Synthetic antiandrogens are used in the cancer treatment. However, antiandrogens, such as bicalutamide (BIC), have a mixed agonist/antagonist activity. Here we compare the antiandrogenic capacity of BIC to a new antiandrogen, MDV3100 (MDV) or Enzalutamide™. By reconstitution of a hormone-regulated enhanc...

Despite of the progress in the molecular etiology of prostate cancer, the androgen receptor (AR) remains the major druggable target for the advanced disease. In addition to hormonal ligands, AR activity is regulated by posttranslational modifications. Here, we show that androgen induces SUMO-2 and SUMO-3 (SUMO-2/3) modification (SUMOylation) of the...