Prostate Cancer Breakthrough
July 7, 2022 at 9:15 a.m.
Anti-hormonal treatment is successful at keeping metastatic prostate cancer under control, but eventually the tumor cells become resistant to it.
The new study is looking at the proteins that regulate a cell’s circadian rhythm as a potential solution to this roadblock in treating prostate cancer. The research was published in the journal Cancer Discovery on June 27, 2022.
Until now, the problem to treating prostate cancer was to find drugs that can prevent the tumor from becoming resistant to hormone therapy. That mystery may have been solved.
The study looked at tissue from 56 people with high-risk prostate cancer who had undergone three months of anti-hormonal therapy before their surgery. After those three months, their tissue was examined at the DNA level. Researchers discovered that an unexpected class of proteins, those that regulate the circadian clock, dampens the effects of anti-hormonal therapy. “We noticed that the genes keeping the tumor cells alive despite the treatment, were suddenly controlled by a protein that normally regulates the circadian clock,” said researcher Simon Linder.
This surprising discovery creates new opportunities. Researcher Wilbert Zwart stated, “Fortunately, there are already several therapies that affect circadian proteins, and those can be combined with anti-hormonal therapies. This lead, which allows for a form of drug repurposing, could save a decade of research.”
Follow-up research is currently underway to determine if this new approach can improve prostate cancer treatment.
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