TRPM8 Ion Channels Differentially Modulate Proliferation and Cell Cycle Distribution of Normal and Cancer Prostate Cells

Overexpression of the cation-permeable channel TRPM8 in prostate cancers might represent a novel opportunity for their treatment. Inhibitors of TRPM8 reduce the growth of prostate cancer cells. We have used two recently described and highly specific blockers, AMTB and JNJ41876666, and RNAi to determine the relevance of TRPM8 expression in the proliferation of non-tumor and tumor cells. Inhibition of the expression or function of the channel reduces proliferation rates and proliferative fraction in all tumor cells tested, but not of non-tumor prostate cells. We observed no consistent acceleration of growth after stimulation of the channel with menthol or icilin, indicating that basal TRPM8 expression is enough to sustain growth of prostate cancer cells.     

Spanish late Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominid, palaeolithic and faunal finds from Orce (Granada) and Cueva Victoria (Murcia)

In SE Spain, recent excavations in the Orce basin and at Cueva Victoria indicate presence of both hominids and hominid activity from the Plio-Pleistocene boundary and early Lower Pleistocene.     

Insights into the evolution of child growth from Lower Pleistocene humeri at Venta Micena (Orce, Granada province, Spain)

Well-defined human anatomical characteristics are present on humeral fragments of a child (VM-1960) and an adult (VM-3691) from early Lower Pleistocene sediments at Venta Micena: both have narrower medullary cavities than in AfricanHomo erectus/ergaster (KNM-ER 1808), and the child’s humeral shaft is longer than in recent 8-to-9-year-olds even though its muscle markings are less pronounced than theirs. We infer that exposure of growing children to high mechanical loading favoured Plio-Pleistocene skeletal evolution inHomo of humeral robusticity and elongation. Precocious childhood arm-bone development, occurring before pubertal growth-spurt increments in shoulder and arm muscularity, implies a different balance from today between prepubertal hormonal influences exerted on ossification (growth hormone and somatomedin C) and the adolescent gonadal hormones of our modern growth spurt which may have still been in the process of evolution by natural selection.