|
Affortable Gifts |
AFFORTABLE GIFTS News Scientists From Australia
Discover
How To Cut Off Cancer's Food Supply,
Essentially "Starving" Prostate Cancer
Researchers at the Centenary Institute in Sydney
have now discovered a potential future treatment for prostate cancer, essentially through starving the
tumor cells of an essential nutrient they need to grow rapidly. Their research, with human cells grown in the lab, reveals targets for drugs that could slow the progress of early and late stage prostate cancer. The research has been funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) and Movember.
Current therapies for prostate cancer include
surgical removal of the prostate, radiation, freezing the tumour or cutting off the supply of the hormone
testosterone, but there are often side-effects including incontinence and impotence.
Growing cells need an essential nutrient, the amino acid called leucine, which is pumped into the cell by specific proteins.
A research team at the Centenary Institute found,
in a study to be published in Cancer Research, that prostate cancer cells have more pumps than normal. This
allows the cancer cells to take in more leucine and outgrow
the normal cells at a faster pace.
"This information allows us to target the pumps
and disrupt the uptake of leucine firstly by reducing the expression amount of the protein pumps,
and secondly by introducing a drug that competes with leucine. Both approaches slowed cancer growth, by essentially starving the cancer cells.
The researchers were able to slow tumor growth in
both the early and
late stages of prostate cancer. "In some of the experiments, we were able to slow tumor growth by as much as 50 per cent. Our hope is that we could develop a treatment that slows the growth of the cancer so that it would not require surgical removal.
The discovery provides a better understanding of
the links between prostate cancer and eating foods high in leucine. "Diets high in red meat and dairy
are correlated with prostate cancer but still no one
really understands why. We have already begun examining whether these mechanisms can explain the links between diet and prostate cancer."
The publication of the study comes just in time
for Movember,
a month-long charity drive in which thousands of
people around the globe grow
mustaches to raise money for men's health issues including prostate cancer.
"This fundamental research tells us more about
how prostate and other cancers grow, and will open the way for new treatments in the long term," says Movember
chairman Paul Villanti.
"Movember is now one of the largest
non-government global funders of prostate cancer research. We strongly support innovative targeted research
that leads to significantly improved clinical tests and treatments to reduce the burden of prostate
cancer.
PCFA and Movember have been working together
since 2004 to reduce the impact of prostate cancer on Australian men and their loved ones.
The research has the potential to reduce the
impact of prostate cancer on those who are diagnosed is a huge priority for the PCFA's grants
program.
"This is part of a body of work that is
investigating the very nature of cancer and opening up new avenues for cancer treatment," say Centenary
Institute researchers.
Story Source: Centenary
Institute.
Journal Reference: Cancer Research, 2011;
"Androgen receptor and nutrient signaling pathways coordinate the demand for increased amino acid transport
during prostate cancer progression."
This article is for informational and educational purposes only, and is not intended to provide medical advice,
diagnosis or treatment. Contact your doctor or healthcare professional for medical and nutritional
consultation.
Request Your FREE
Catalog
YOU NEED A CATALOG 354 Pages
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|