For years, patients with prostate cancer at risk of spreading were given hormone suppression therapy to weaken the cancer. New research suggests that it may promote metastasis ? the escape and spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body.
It?s too early to scrap androgen deprivation therapy ? which involves injected suppressants or surgical castration to reduce male hormones ? but Johns Hopkins researcher David Berman said patients who die because their disease spreads are almost certain to have received this type of therapy.
The connection is a protein called nestin that has been linked to both metastasized cancer and androgen deprivation, according to Berman?s study, published in the Oct. 1 edition of Cancer Research.
“What all this suggests is that nestin levels increased when prostate cancer cells are deprived of androgens and may encourage the cells to metastasize,” Berman said.
The therapy is effective at slowing tumor growth, he said. However hormone therapy does not cure cancer.
Androgens, produced mainly in the testicles, stimulate prostate cancer cells to grow, according to the American Cancer Society. This is not the first potential downfall to the hormone therapy.
A study published in the Sept. 20 Journal of Clinical Oncology found that hormone therapy may increase the risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Androgen deprivation may increase fat mass and insulin resistance, according to the article.
Compared to men who did not receive androgen deprivation therapy, those who received suppressants were 44 percent more likely to develop diabetes, 16 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease, 11 percent more likely to have a heart attack, and 16 percent more likely to experience sudden cardiac death.
In comparison, men who underwent surgical castration were more 34 percent more likely to develop diabetes but did not suffer risks of heart disease.
Those results were less certain because of the small number of men who choose this route.
Hormone therapy may be used in several situations
» If you are not able to have surgery or radiation or can?t undergo these treatments because the cancer already has spread beyond the prostate gland.
» If your cancer remains or comes back after treatment with surgery or radiation therapy.
» As an addition to radiation therapy as initial treatment if you are at high risk for cancer recurrence.
» Before surgery or radiation to try and shrink the cancer to make other treatments more effective.
Source: American Cancer Society
