A number of reports implicated targeting TGF-a as a promising therapeutic target for the treatment of many types of cancer including prostate cancer. This cytokine not only have the ability to suppress cancer cell growth and proliferation during the early stage of cancer but to promote tumor progression and metastasis during the advance stage of disease. The elucidation of mechanism responsible for the TGF-a switch for a tumor suppressor to tumor promoting cytokine is critical for implementation of TGF-a as a promising therapeutic target for advanced stage of cancer towards tumor progression and metastasis.
Keywords: TGF-β, prostate cancer, apoptosis, Smad-signaling, androgens, metastasis
