Prevent relapse
An international team of researchers working under the leadership of Dr. Mohammad Asim from the University of Surrey has found that the unintended consequence of the use of antihormonal therapy for the treatment of prostate cancer is the activation of the enzyme poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase (PARP), which repairs DNA damage. This, in turn, gives cancer cells the ability to resist antihormonal therapy, which leads to the proliferation of these cells and the transition of the tumor into a more aggressive form.
Antihormonal therapy is often prescribed for the treatment of prostate cancer. It is aimed at reducing the concentration of male sex hormones in the affected gland that stimulate the growth of malignant cells.The authors of the article in Nature, without undue delicacy in medicine, write about forms of prostate cancer that do not respond to castration. Usually, medical castration is used (actually antihormonal therapy), and surgical is rarely used because of serious psychological problems and possible complications.
The data obtained by the authors indicate that its implementation in combination with the use of PARP enzyme inhibitors used in the treatment of breast cancer can reduce the likelihood of recurrence of the disease and increase the effectiveness of antihormonal therapy. These drugs prevent the restoration of DNA damage, ensuring the death of malignant cells.
The next stage of the work will be conducting clinical trials aimed at verifying the safety of the proposed approach for the treatment of patients, as well as its effectiveness in the treatment of prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men. In the UK alone, 40,000 cases of this disease are diagnosed annually, 25% of which are fatal. According to the charity Prostate Cancer UK, 1 in 8 men will develop prostate cancer sooner or later, which indicates a high prevalence of the disease.
Article by Mohammad Asim et al. Synthetic lethality between androgen receptor signaling and the PARP pathway in prostate cancer is published in the journal Nature Communications.
Evgeniya Ryabtseva
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru according to the University of Surrey: Recurrence of prostate cancer could be reduced thanks to exciting new discovery.
05.09.2017