Prostate cancer growth controlled by 'puppet master' genes

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By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 7:42 AM on 2nd August 2011

A series of 'puppet master' genes that control the growth and spread of prostate cancer have been discovered by scientists.

Drugs that home in on these genes could slow down or even stop the march of the disease, the most common cancer among British men.

Some 37,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed each year in the UK and it kills more than 10,000 annually.

Discovery: Scientists have found a series of genes that control the growth and spread of prostate cancer

Scientists from the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh focused on so-called stromal cells, which are not cancerous but play a vital role in controlling the spread of the disease.

Comparison of stromal cells taken from healthy, diseased and embryonic prostates flagged up 15 genes believed to be key to the growth of cancerous cells, the journal Oncogene reports.

Researcher Dr Axel Thomson said: 'Stromal cells are in effect the "puppet masters" of cancer growth and, although not cancerous themselves, they can have a big effect on how tumours grow.It is indirect but it couldn't be more important.

 

'This is basic scientific research. However, it was conducted on samples taken from patients; it was not something esoteric done on worms or flies.This is an area of tumour biology which is going to be important in the future.' 

More work is needed to understand how the genes drive the spread of the disease. 

Owen Sharp of The Prostate Cancer Charity  said: 'The researchers have found it is actually the normal cells of the prostate which are driving and regulating the growth of prostate cancer. 

'These results could potentially be used as a target for the development of new drugs to help slow down, or even stop, the progress of the disease.'

 

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02 Aug, 2011

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2021366/Prostate-cancer-growth-controlled-puppet-master-genes.html?ITO=1490
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