Currently, there is a well-known
therapy for prostate cancer in the United States – the deprivation of androgen! Though this process is proven to effectively
fight androgen-dependent diseases, lack of androgen often results in an
androgen-independent mechanism that could lead to worst cases.
Such type of cancer, specifically
castration-resistant prostate cancer, poses a major challenge in the field of
medicine. Furthermore, the processes in this castration resistance mechanism
are not yet fully well grasped. Epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a
major developmental process and has been identified as the major factor in
cancer metastasis and resistance to therapeutic processes recently. Until today, the various factors that may
contribute to EMT in human cancers are still unclear.
There was this experiment which
showed that both the normal mouse prostate tissue and human LuCaP35 prostate
tumor tissue display an EMT. It further
shows increased stem cell-like features in prostate tumors from patients given
androgen-deprivation therapy.
To sum it all, this experiment shows
for the first time that androgen deprivation induces ENT either in normal
prostate or in prostate cancer. This
recent experiment clinically reveals an important consequence of a
standard-of-care treatment for prostate cancer.
Reference: www.cdc.gov
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