Treatment with anti-androgen drugs may contribute to the growth of bone tumors in advanced cases of prostate cancer.
In a significant development for the fight against prostate cancer, a team of Australian researchers has made a groundbreaking discovery, shedding light on the impact of anti-androgen therapies on bone metastases of the disease. The study, titled "In vitro engineering of a bone metastases model," was published in the prestigious journal Science Advances (DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.05.002). The research was supported by the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia, Australian Research Council, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. Led by Professor Goran Hutmacher, the team used an all-human, microtissue-engineered model of metastatic tissue to assess the effects of enzalutamide and bicalutamide on prostate cancer cells. The researcher, Dr. Eva Corell, plans to use patient cells from prostatectomy patients as a personalized preclinical diagnostic and drug testing system. The efficacy of these therapies is compromised in the presence of the bone microenvironment. The interactions between the cancer cells, the bone, and the anti-androgens significantly impacted the progress of cancer in the mineralised microenvironment of bone tumours. Professor Jeff Dunn AO, who is also the CEO of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, described the research as Australian research excellence at its finest. He stated that the discovery will help in better targeting treatments for different types of prostate cancer. The research is particularly important given that Australia has one of the highest incidence rates of prostate cancer internationally. With 1 in every 6 Australian men likely to be diagnosed during their lifetime and around 17,000 men diagnosed each year, continued work is needed to find curative treatments, especially for advanced disease in the bone. An important outcome of the study was the need to upscale the bone tumour microenvironment model platform for use by other research groups. Dr. Nathalie Bock, who conducted the research on bone metastases from breast and prostate cancers, will use her model in future to investigate the effects of antiandrogen therapies further. The research will build on previous discoveries to help in saving lives by stopping cancer from spreading and claiming the lives of more than 3,000 men a year, as is currently the case. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia commends the research team and congratulates PCFA grant recipient Dr. Nathalie Bock for her research achievements.
