What Makes Prostate Cancer Aggressive?

Study examines role of tumor suppressor gene in disease progression

THURSDAY, Nov. 6, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A single tumor suppressor gene isn't necessarily enough to protect against the progression of prostate cancer, says a study by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.

Previous research found one or both copies of something called the PTEN tumor suppressor gene are lost in 70 percent of men with prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis. But it's been believed the one remaining copy of the PTEN gene, which controls cell proliferation, still protected men against the spread of cancer.

But in research with mice, the Sloan-Kettering researchers found that alone may not be enough: It's the dose of PTEN protein that determines whether the tumor becomes an aggressive cancer.

This finding could help scientists develop new ways to diagnose, treat and possibly prevent prostate cancer.

"We have shown that prostate cancer development is not just affected by mutation and loss of the PTEN gene but that its progression is dose-dependent on the PTEN protein, which we have measured for the first time," senior author Dr. Pier Paolo Pandolfi, head of the Molecular and Developmental Biology Laboratory at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, says in a prepared statement.

"Two men, each with one PTEN gene left, could have totally different disease outcomes depending on the actual dose of PTEN protein coming from that gene."

More information

Here's where you can learn more about prostate cancer.

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