Study challenges assumptions about testosterone’s role in brain cancer
· News-MedicalPreclinical research from Dr. Lathia's team showed that when testosterone was removed or blocked, a chain reaction occurred:
- Loss of testosterone triggered stress hormones
- Stress hormones suppressed immune cells
- Brain inflammation drove this process
- Immune suppression provided an environment that permitted tumor growth
Drs. Lathia and Lee attribute this chain reaction to the brain's immune cells, or microglia. Normally, testosterone keeps microglia in check. Without it, microglia trigger inflammation that directly affects the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and triggers a body-wide stress response that weakens the immune system. That weakened immune system eventually leads to tumor growth.
"In cancers outside of the brain, blocking androgens can improve immunity," Dr. Lathia says. "This is the opposite of what we discovered in this study-and the implications are that this is more than just local tumor biology, since the effects spread to distant brain regions, including the hypothalamus. The location of a tumor significantly changes how hormones affect immunity."
In addition, the team noted from an analysis of cancer registry data that male glioblastoma patients who received testosterone therapy along with standard chemotherapy lived longer, on average.
"What excites me about our findings is the new insight we are contributing to the growing field of cancer neuroscience," Dr. Lathia says. "This study looks beyond the tumor at the interaction with the nervous system, in addition to the immune system."
"We see so much potential for the future of glioblastoma treatment," he adds. "Our ultimate assertion is that supplemental testosterone could be evaluated as a therapy, marking an important opportunity to advance our fight against cancer."
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