Two drugs originally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating prostate cancer may also help fight a very different disease: acute myeloid leukemia (AML).
AML is a type of cancer that affects the blood and bone marrow. It can occur at any age, but it is the most common type of leukemia in adults.
Despite years of research, treatments for AML have not changed much, and many patients relapse. But this new discovery from researchers at Penn State may open the door to new options.
The two drugs—apalutamide and finasteride—were tested in lab experiments using mice and human cells affected by AML. The results showed that both drugs helped slow the progression of leukemia. These findings were published in the journal Blood Advances.
The research team, led by Dr. K. Sandeep Prabhu and Dr. Robert Paulson from Penn State, discovered that these drugs work by blocking a hormone pathway linked to dihydrotestosterone.
This hormone is more powerful than testosterone and plays a big role in prostate cancer. Until now, scientists didn’t know that it could also be involved in leukemia.
In prostate cancer, androgen hormones like dihydrotestosterone fuel tumor growth by binding to androgen receptors in the body. This interaction is already a well-known target for prostate cancer drugs. What’s surprising is that these same hormone signals may play a role in leukemia too.
During the study, the team noticed something unusual while trying to create a leukemia mouse model for research. Some female mice were not developing AML as expected, while the disease appeared to be much worse in certain male mice.
At first, the scientists thought estrogen might be protecting the females. But even female mice without ovaries, and therefore without estrogen, were less likely to develop AML.
This led researcher Fenghua Qian to explore the role of male hormones instead. He found that androgen receptors were very active in the leukemia cells from female mice. In males, even though they had lower androgen receptor activity, they had higher levels of dihydrotestosterone.
These factors appeared to work together to influence how the disease developed. The team found similar patterns when they tested AML cells from human patients in mice.
The two drugs helped slow AML in different ways. Finasteride reduced the levels of dihydrotestosterone, while apalutamide blocked how androgen receptors work. By interrupting these hormone signals, the drugs were able to reduce leukemia growth.
This research is exciting because it reveals a new possible target—hormone signaling—that hasn’t been considered in leukemia treatments before.
Most current therapies for AML include chemotherapy, radiation, stem cell transplants, or newer immune-based treatments. Targeting androgen receptors could become another tool, especially for patients who don’t respond well to current methods.
The researchers have even applied for a patent to use these drugs in AML treatment. Still, more work needs to be done. The drugs must be tested in human clinical trials to make sure they are safe and effective in leukemia patients. These trials would likely focus on patients whose leukemia cells show high androgen receptor activity.
According to the scientists, this study shows how paying attention to small details can lead to big discoveries. It was Qian’s careful observation that sparked the entire research direction. What began as a curious finding in a mouse study may soon lead to better treatments for a challenging and deadly 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.
Copyright © 2025 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
