Castrating Prostate Cancer

A great deal of cancer medicine has to do with targeting and then blocking the activities of molecules that create chaos - and cancer - in the body.

A new target for resistant prostate cancer has been identified.

Scientists have learned that going after a molecule which plays a role in many cancers - microRNA-125b - may jumpstart treatment of prostate cancers that no longer respond to hormonal therapy (castration-resistant).

Talk to your doctor about prostate cancer screening.

Researchers from the University of Colorado, Denver and the University of Minnesota were trying to define the role of microRNA-125b at the time of this discovery.

They found that this molecule blocks NCOR2, a gene that works to tamp down the androgen receptor that drives prostate cancer.

The study authors explained that “the androgen receptor is a critical therapeutic target in prostate cancer.” Why? Because when the androgen receptors get altered, the result is a prostate cancer that no longer responds to hormone-blocking drugs.

This study was published in the July edition of BioResearch Open Access.

This work was supported by a Paul Calabresi K12 clinical scholar grant awarded to the University of Colorado Denver and the Herbert Crane Endowment.

The authors declare that no competing financial interests exist.