UCLA scientists pinpoint cancer gene responsible for neuroendocrine prostate cancer

​Scientists at the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research have discovered that a protein produced by a cancer gene leads to the development of a deadly, late-stage form of prostate cancer called neuroendocrine prostate cancer. The discovery could be a significant step toward a more effective treatment. The findings, which were published in the journal Cancer Cell, are particularly important because neuroendocrine prostate cancer does not respond to standard treatments, and men who are diagnosed with the disease typically live for less than a year afterward. Up to one-quarter of those who die of prostate cancer have the neuroendocrine subtype. “Identifying the cellular changes that happen in cancer cells is key to the development of drugs that inhibit those changes and thereby stop the progression of the disease,” said Dr. Owen Witte, founding director of the UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center and the study’s lead author. Witte also is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and a member of the President’s Cancer Panel, which reports to President Barack Obama. With patients’ consent, the researchers obtained non-cancerous prostate basal cells — which contain prostate stem cells that can regenerate all other types of prostate cells — from men who underwent prostate surgery at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. They then added a gene called MYCN to those cells. MYCN produces a protein called N-Myc, which is k...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news