The effect of a six-month training program followed by a marathon run on knee joint cartilage volume and thickness in marathon beginners.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a 6-month period of intensive running followed by the participation at a marathon run on cartilage volume and thickness in knees of marathon beginners. METHODS: Ten asymptomatic marathon beginners underwent a supervised 6-month training program, which was finalized by the participation at a marathon run. Three-dimensional quantitative magnetic resonance imaging was performed before the training program (baseline measurements) and 1 day after the marathon (follow-up measurements). Cartilage volume and thickness of the medial and lateral femur, medial and lateral tibia, and patella were measured using semiautomated cartilage segmentation and three dimensional data postprocessing. RESULTS: Significant differences between baseline and follow-up measurements were observed at the lateral femur, where cartilage volume and thickness decreased by a mean of 3.2 ± 3.0% (p = 0.012) and 1.7 ± 1.6% (p = 0.010), respectively. No significant changes in cartilage volume and thickness were observed at the medial and lateral tibia, the medial femur, and the patella. CONCLUSION: Significant cartilage loss was observed at the lateral femur; however, the measured values are comparable to previously reported precision errors for quantitative cartilage measurement and thus most likely not of clinical relevance. High-impact forces during long-distance running are well tolerated even in marathon beginners and do not lead to clinical relevant cartilage loss. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.

The androgen-regulated Calcium-Activated Nucleotidase 1 (CANT1) is commonly overexpressed in prostate cancer and is tumor-biologically relevant in vitro.

Previously, we identified the calcium-activated nucleotidase 1 (CANT1) transcript as up-regulated in prostate cancer. Now, we studied CANT1 protein expression in a large cohort of nearly 1000 prostatic tissue samples including normal tissue, prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PIN), primary carcinomas, metastases, and castrate-resistant carcinomas, and further investigated its functional relevance. CANT1 displayed predominantly a Golgi-type immunoreactivity with additional and variable cytoplasmic staining. In comparison to normal tissues, the staining intensity was significantly increased in PIN lesions and cancer. In cancer, high CANT1 levels were associated with a better prognosis, and castrate-resistant carcinomas commonly showed lower CANT1 levels than primary carcinomas. The functional role of CANT1 was investigated using RNA interference in two prostate cancer cell lines with abundant endogenous CANT1 protein. On CANT1 knockdown, a significantly diminished cell number and DNA synthesis rate, a cell cycle arrest in G(1) phase, and a strong decrease of cell transmigration rate and wound healing capacity of CANT1 knockdown cells was found. However, on forced CANT1 overexpression, cell proliferation and migration remained unchanged. In summary, CANT1 is commonly overexpressed in the vast majority of primary prostate carcinomas and in the precursor lesion PIN and may represent a novel prognostic biomarker. Moreover, this is the first study to demonstrate a functional involvement of CANT1 in tumor biology.