Using a breakthrough technology, researchers led by a Weill Cornell Medical College scientist have pinpointed the hormone estrogen as a key player in about half of all prostate cancers.
Estrogen triggers a discrete and aggressive form of prostate cancer in men by causing gene abnormalities.
"Fifty percent of prostate cancers harbor a common recurrent gene fusion, and we believe that this confers a more aggressive nature to these tumors," explains study senior author Dr. Mark A. Rubin, professor of pathology and laboratory medicine, and vice chair for experimental pathology at Weill Cornell Medical College.
"The discovery showed that these malignancies occur after an androgen (male hormone)-dependent gene fuses with an oncogene -- a type of gene that causes cancer," he explains.
Experts have long understood that male hormones help spur prostate cancer -- in fact, androgen-deprivation therapy is a first-line treatment against the disease. And yet the disease can progress despite androgen reduction, suggesting that other pathways might be at work.
While estrogen is typically thought of as a "female" hormone, men produce it as well. Estrogen-dependent molecular pathways appear to play a crucial role in regulating (and encouraging) aggressive subset of prostate cancer.
Research into just why fusion-positive prostate cancers are so aggressive -- and potential molecular drug targets to help curb that aggression -- will continue.
Other news
