A new study has identified promising treatment strategies for one of the most aggressive forms of prostate cancer.
Researchers at McGill University’s Rosalind and Morris Goodman Cancer Institute (GCI) have discovered a key mechanism that drives neuroendocrine prostate cancer, a rare and fast-growing subtype with no effective therapies.
The findings, published in Genes & Development, show that prostate tumors in mice became more aggressive when the protein ERRγ was lost. When researchers restored this protein in human cancer cells, tumor growth slowed, suggesting ERRγ plays a protective role.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Canadian men. Earlier research shows that about 15 percent of patients eventually develop neuroendocrine prostate cancer after their tumors stop responding to hormone therapy. Once this shift occurs, life expectancy usually drops to less than 18 months.
“Therapy resistance is one of the biggest challenges in cancer care, and prostate cancer is no exception,” said lead author Vincent Giguère, a professor in McGill’s Department of Biochemistry and GCI researcher. “Our findings highlight ERRγ as a promising new therapeutic target.”
The research team used advanced genetic and metabolic tools to study how tumors change when ERRγ is absent. They found that two cancer-related genes become overactive without this protein. Because drugs that block these genes already exist for other cancers, the team tested two of them on mouse and human prostate cancer cells.
When used together, the drugs slowed tumor growth far more effectively than either drug alone.
“These findings have major clinical implications,” Giguère explained. “If we target the genes that dominate when ERRγ activity is low, we may be able to develop new treatment strategies for patients who currently have very few options.”
He added that researchers are still studying why ERRγ function becomes impaired in the first place.
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