Prostate cancer is the second most diagnosed cancer, and the fifth main cause of cancer death, among men around the world, but a new study gives more hope to improve treatment.
In fact, one of the researchers behind the new discovery has gone so far as to say that the discovery could: “stop the progression of cancers involved on their track.”
In 2020, almost 1.5 million people were diagnosed with the disease, and almost 400,000 people died from.
Scientists have now discovered how one of the main drivers of prostate cancer, the enzyme protein serine kinase H1 (PSKH1), can turn on and deactivated.
The new Australian LED study could help develop better and more specific therapeutic approaches to treat cancer.
“The tumors are formed because the cells ignore the normal signals that tell them that it is time to stop growing, or that it is time to die,” says Dr. John Scott, of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Monash (MIPS), a senior author of the set of the set of the New study Posted in the magazine Pnas.
“When a signaling molecule, such as PSKH1, interacts with certain proteins on a cell surface, this union triggers a chain of events that can amplify cell activity and lead to the formation of tumors.”
PSKH1 hyperactivity is associated with tumor progression and metastasis (propagation) in prostate cancer. It is also linked to lung and kidney cancers.
How this has not been clear until now.
Scott and collaborators found that PSKH1 is activated when it joins a protein called calmodulin, which triggers the waterfall that promotes tumor formation.
But when PSKH1 joins a protein called reticulocalbin, this activity goes out.
“Now that we know more about the proteins that drive the state of ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ of PSKH1, we can start developing new medications that go to this molecule,” says Scott.
The main author of the study, Professor James Murphy of Wehi, agrees. He says that new information “… opens a completely new world of potential when it comes to developing new drugs.”
“Disableing PSKH1 essentially means being able to stop the progression of the cancers involved in its track,” says Murphy.
“From here, our goal is to explore how we can start developing new effective therapies, with less side effects.”
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