In a novel study researchers have made burst through in the fight against prostate cancer. They have identified a protein which halts cancerous cells from growing and even makes them to kill themselves. The spread of the disease around the body could be halted by a drug that boosts levels of the protein called FUS.
In existing ways to diagnose those who are most at risk including methods like blood tests, biopsies, scans and microscopy and how they should be treated. The study by researchers from Imperial College London could help doctors to distinguish more accurately the more common and slow growing forms of the disease to more aggressive and fast growing forms of the condition.
Such a test could save thousands of men from unnecessary treatments. The researchers have shown that FUS, which naturally occurs in cells, can twig the growth of prostate tumours and activate a sequence of reactions that leads to their death. Once they increased the amount of FUS, more cells died, signifying that a drug that improves levels in patients could be of authentic advantage.
These results recommend that FUS might be capable of repressing growth of tumour and halt its spreading from other parts of the body here it can be fatal. If more studies corroborate these results then FUS might be hopeful goal for future therapies, explained Dr Charlotte Bevan, the senior author of the study.
The FUS sluggish the cancer cells precise downward when grown in controlled conditions. Eventually they hope a cure will be somewhere down the line. FUS is also associated with the sternness of the disease, with prostate cancer tending to be more severe in men with lower levels of the compound, reported the journal Cancer Research.
FUS is a critical link in the progression of prostate tumour. The next step is to examine if FUS could be a useful test of how aggressive prostate cancer is, explained researcher Greg Brooke. Then they might seek ways to improve FUS levels in patients to perceive if that would slow tumour growth or improve response to hormone therapy.
Whether FUS actually is a tumour suppressor, it might also be occupied in other cancers, such as breast cancer, which has significant similarities with prostate cancer, added Brooke.