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Study shows hormone therapy can speed prostate cancerIt's well known that male sex hormones promote the growth of prostate cancer. That's why doctors use hormone therapy -- chemical or physical castration -- to shut off these tumor-promoting androgens But study team finds that in different types of prostate cancer cells, androgens actually inhibit prostate cancer. When these tumor cells don't get androgens, they become more aggressive and more invasive. The lining of the prostate is made up of epithelial cells. The androgen receptor in the epithelial cells, at least in the animal models studied, tends to inhibit cancer. Since the cancer-promoting effect of androgens is strongest in the earlier stages of cancer, hormone therapy does more good than harm. But as the cancer spreads to distant sites, the cancer-inhibiting effect of androgens may become more important. At this point, the research team concluded, hormone therapy may do more harm than good. This helps explain why hormone therapy always works at first but then tends to lose its cancer-inhibiting effect over time. As continuous hormone therapy often fails after succeeding at first, an intermittent hormone therapy may be getting a balance between the inhibitory and stimulatory effects on the cancer, whereas continuous hormone therapy drives out the inhibitory effect and you are left with the stimulatory effect. The study points that human studies will be needed to confirm the suggestion that the cancer-stimulating effect of hormone therapy explains why the treatment often fails after succeeding at first. And he says that even if hormone therapy does stimulate cancer, its inhibitory effect is more important for some patients NOTE: Issues on this site regarding prostate cancer and treatment options, are provided for information only, and are not meant to substitute for the advice of your own physician or other medical professional. Prostate-Report.org does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment. |
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