GV1001 interacts with androgen receptor to inhibit prostate cell proliferation in benign prostatic hyperplasia by regulating expression of molecules related to epithelial-mesenchymal transition.

Prostate cell proliferation, driven by testosterone, is a major characteristic of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). GV1001, a human telomerase reverse transcriptase catalytic subunit, is an injectable formulation used as a cancer vaccine. It functions as a cell penetrating peptide to regulate cell proliferation. Here, we found that GV1001 effectively suppressed proliferation of prostatic stromal myofibroblasts (WPMY-1) and prostatic epithelial cells (RWPE-1 and WPE-NA22) treated with dihydrotestosterone. Also, GV1001 bound to androgen receptors (ARs) in the cytosol of stromal and epithelial cells. In an experimental animal model implanted with an infusion pump for spontaneous and continuous release of testosterone, revealed that GV1001 reduced prostatic hypertrophy and inhibited the cell proliferation and the expression of Ki67, proliferating cell nuclear antigen, and prostate specific antigen. In addition, GV1001 prevented fibrosis of the prostate by downregulating expression of prostatic epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related proteins such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß, Snail, Slug, N-cadherin, and Vimentin, and by up-regulating E-cadherin. Taken together, these results suggest that GV1001, which suppresses TGF-ß-mediated EMT by outcompeting testosterone for binding to AR, is a potential therapeutic drug for BPH accompanied by prostatic fibrosis.

Two-tier calibrated electro-optic sensing system for intense field characterization of high-power W-band gyrotron.

We present a field-calibrated electro-optic sensing system for measurement of the electric field radiating from a high-power vacuum oscillator at ~95 GHz. The intense electric field is measured in absolute scale via two probe-calibration steps, associated with a photonic heterodyne scheme. First, a micro-electro-optic probe, fabricated to less than one-tenth the oscillation wavelength scale to minimize field-perturbation due to the probe, is placed on the aperture of a field-calculable WR-10 waveguide to calibrate the probe in V/m scale. Then, using this arrangement as a calibrated reference probe at the first-tier position, another probe-bulkier, and thus more robust and sensitive but not accessible to the aperture-is calibrated at the second-tier position away from the waveguide aperture. This two-tier calibrated probe was utilized to diagnose the sub-MV/m scale of intense electric fields and emissions from a high-power W-band gyrotron. The experimental results obtained proved consistent with calculated analytical results-verifying the efficacy of the developed system.

Measurements of morphology and refractive indexes on human downy hairs using three-dimensional quantitative phase imaging.

We present optical measurements of morphology and refractive indexes (RIs) of human downy arm hairs using three-dimensional (3-D) quantitative phase imaging techniques. 3-D RI tomograms and high-resolution two-dimensional synthetic aperture images of individual downy arm hairs were measured using a Mach­Zehnder laser interferometric microscopy equipped with a two-axis galvanometer mirror. From the measured quantitative images, the RIs and morphological parameters of downy hairs were noninvasively quantified including the mean RI, volume, cylinder, and effective radius of individual hairs. In addition, the effects of hydrogen peroxide on individual downy hairs were investigated.