Prostate cancer—focus on cholesterol

Abstract

Prostate cancer (PC) is the most common malignancy in men. Common characteristic involved in PC pathogenesis are disturbed lipid metabolism and abnormal cholesterol accumu-lation. Cholesterol can be further utilized for membrane or hormone synthesis while cholesterol biosynthesis intermediates are important for oncogene membrane anchoring, nucleotide synthesis and mitochondrial electron transport. Since cholesterol and its biosynthesis intermediates influence numerous cellular processes, in this review we have described cholesterol homeostasis in a normal cell. Additionally, we have illustrated how commonly deregulated signaling pathways in PC (PI3K/AKT/MTOR, MAPK, AR and p53) are linked with cholesterol homeostasis regulation.