Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. It begins in the prostate, a small gland below the bladder that helps produce fluid for semen.
Many prostate cancers grow slowly and remain inside the prostate for years. When the disease is found at this stage, treatment can be very successful, and some low-risk cancers may simply be watched closely rather than treated immediately.
The situation becomes much more serious when cancer cells spread to other parts of the body. This is called metastatic prostate cancer, and it can affect areas such as the lymph nodes and bones, making the disease much harder to control.
Researchers have long tried to understand why some prostate tumors remain relatively harmless while others become aggressive. A study led by scientists at the Medical University of Vienna, including Lukas Kenner, has identified a biological change that may help explain part of this difference.
The research focused on a protein called KMT2C. The findings were published in the scientific journal Molecular Cancer.
KMT2C helps control how genes are used inside cells. Genes contain instructions for making proteins and controlling cell behavior, but cells also need systems that determine when particular genes should become active or remain quiet.
Under normal conditions, KMT2C appears to be part of this control system. The researchers found that cancer-related changes in the KMT2C gene can interfere with the protein’s normal function and remove an important brake on cancer growth.
When KMT2C was not working properly, another gene called MYC became more active. MYC is well known in cancer research because it can encourage cells to grow and divide rapidly when its activity becomes uncontrolled.
This connection could help explain how some prostate cancers become more aggressive. Loss of normal KMT2C activity may allow MYC to push cancer cells toward faster growth and greater ability to spread beyond the prostate.
The discovery may eventually help doctors identify patients whose cancers have a higher risk of becoming dangerous. The researchers suggest that KMT2C changes could potentially be detected through blood-based testing, although such an approach would need further development and careful testing before routine use.
A blood test that reliably identifies important cancer-related genetic changes could be useful because prostate cancer does not behave the same way in every patient. Doctors currently use information such as prostate-specific antigen levels, scans, biopsies and tumor features to estimate how aggressive a cancer may be.
Adding useful genetic information could one day make those predictions more precise. Patients with signs of a more aggressive cancer might then receive closer monitoring or treatment earlier, while people with low-risk disease could potentially avoid unnecessary treatment.
The findings may also point toward new treatment possibilities. Because loss of KMT2C appears to increase MYC activity, drugs designed to block MYC or related cancer-driving processes could potentially help some patients with advanced prostate cancer.
Researchers are already studying ways to target MYC in cancer, but turning this idea into an effective treatment is challenging. Any new drug would need to show that it can slow cancer safely and provide meaningful benefits to patients in clinical trials.
The new study therefore does not mean that a blood test or new treatment for KMT2C-related prostate cancer is ready for patients. More research is needed to confirm the findings, determine how often this pathway drives aggressive disease and identify which patients would benefit most from targeted treatment.
Still, the discovery gives scientists another clue about the changes that can turn a contained prostate tumor into a more dangerous disease. Understanding those changes could eventually lead to more personalized ways to predict, monitor and treat prostate cancer.
If you care about prostate cancer, please read studies about a natural ally against prostate cancer, and supplements and keto diet can boost immunotherapy for prostate cancer.
For more health information, please see recent studies about how to harness the power of anti-cancer foods and supplements, and low-fat diet may help stop cancer growth.
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