Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have made an important discovery about aggressive prostate cancer.
They found a possible reason why some prostate tumors become harder to treat—and a way to possibly stop it.
The research team, led by Dr. Joshi Alumkal, identified a protein called LSD1 that seems to play a big role in how some prostate cancers change and grow. This protein helps turn genes on and off in both healthy and cancerous cells.
Usually, prostate tumors stay in a form called adenocarcinoma after initial treatments. But sometimes they change into a more dangerous type known as neuroendocrine prostate cancer. This change is called “lineage plasticity,” and once it happens, there are very few treatment options left.
The researchers found that LSD1 is much more active in these aggressive neuroendocrine tumors compared to the original adenocarcinoma type. When they removed LSD1 from the aggressive cancer cells, the tumors grew much more slowly.
Even more interesting, they discovered that stopping LSD1 from working with other proteins was more effective than simply stopping its main enzyme activity.
Dr. Anbarasu Kumaraswamy and the team tested several drugs that block LSD1. One of them, called seclidemstat, is already being tested in clinical trials for another cancer (sarcoma).
In their study, seclidemstat not only slowed down tumor growth in mice—it even made some tumors shrink completely. And it did this without causing noticeable side effects.
They also found that LSD1 blocks a very important gene called p53. This gene is known for stopping tumors from growing. When LSD1 was blocked, p53 became active again, and this helped stop the cancer from spreading.
These findings are exciting because they show that targeting LSD1 with drugs like seclidemstat might give doctors a new way to treat aggressive prostate cancers. It might even help reactivate p53 in other types of cancer, opening doors to wider cancer treatments.
Because seclidemstat is already being studied in humans, Dr. Alumkal is hopeful that clinical trials for prostate cancer using this drug could start soon. This could lead to faster treatment options for patients who currently have very few.
If you care about cancer, please read studies about Scientists find important cause of pancreatic cancer and findings of Scientists find a big cause of liver cancer.
For more about cancer, please read studies about Research shows a surprising cause of cancer and findings of The surprising impact of anxiety drugs on pancreatic cancer survival.
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