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Fig. 1 | Cell Communication and Signaling

Fig. 1

From: The inhibitory effect of melatonin on human prostate cancer

Fig. 1

Adverse effect of melatonin on the AR pathway. (1) The AR pathway. Androgen triggered the dissociation of AR and HSPs. AR and androgen formed complexes and were transported into nuclear. Nuclear AR complexes bound to the ARE region of hormone-dependent genes to start the transcription. (2) Melatonin mediated the AR nuclear exclusion via a Gi/cGMP/Ca2+/PKC pathway. Melatonin stimulated Gi protein to enhance the production of cGMP. cGMP induced the intracellular flux of Ca2+. Ca2+ activated PKC and PKC promoted the nuclear exclusion of AR. RGS proteins (RGS4, RGS10) exerted adverse effects on this pathway. (3) The potential involvement of Gq protein in AR nuclear exclusion. Melatonin activated phospholipase C (PLC) to generate inositoltriphosphate (IP3) and diacylglycerol (DAG) which contributed to the intracellular flux of Ca2+. Activated Gq protein presumably stimulated PLC or (PLD) to promote AR nuclear exclusion, and the process was inhibited by RGS4

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