Study in mice sheds light on prostate cancer development

Researchers in Belgium have shown that inflammation plays a central role in the early development of prostate cancer. 

In this study from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), an EARA member, the team used genetically altered mice predisposed to develop prostate cancer to show how cell mutations can trigger a process called cell reprogramming, which leads to inflammation and tumour formation.  

This inflammation was not evenly distributed throughout the prostate but affected specific regions differently, with the more inflamed areas exhibiting features similar to aggressive forms of human prostate cancer. 

Crucially, anti-inflammatory medication (rapamycin) prevented both cell reprogramming and tumour formation. This suggests that targeting inflammation at the earliest stages of tumour development could be a promising strategy for preventing prostate cancer, particularly in high-risk individuals.  

Chen Jiang, first author of the study published in Nature Cancer stated: "It is exciting to see that the cellular reprogramming identified in the mouse model correlates with more aggressive prostate cancers in men, suggesting that the reprogramming markers we identified could serve as a predictive biomarker for aggressive prostate cancer."