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"Sex hormone" prevents cancer
Last reviewed: 30.06.2025
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The hormone calcitonin greatly worsens the prognosis of patients with some types of cancer. Scientists believe that the level of calcitonin can be reduced by switching the enzyme that activates it to another hormone - oxytocin, which is associated with a feeling of sexual pleasure and satisfaction.
Researchers from the Australian National University have come up with some surprising results that could lead to a rather unique way to fight cancer. Researchers from Professor Christopher Easton’s lab were studying the enzyme PAM (peptidylglycine alpha-amidating monooxygenase), which is involved in activating a number of peptide hormones, including calcitonin and oxytocin. The former is used in mineral metabolism and also stimulates the division of some cells; the latter controls lactation and the muscles of the uterus. Oxytocin is thought to influence sexual behavior; it is sometimes called the “sex hormone,” as its levels in the lymph increase sharply at the moment of orgasm.
At the same time, an imbalance of peptide hormones, like any disorder in the hormonal system, leads to various diseases, from asthma to cancer. An imbalance in the concentration of a particular hormone may be associated with improper functioning of the RAM enzyme, which activates them. In an article published in the journal Medicinal Chemistry Communications, the authors report that an elevated level of calcitonin greatly worsens the condition of patients with small cell lung cancer. This is one of the most common and dangerous types of cancer, extremely fast growing and with extensive metastases. According to the authors of the study, they were able to discover that some derivatives of fatty acids effectively suppress the work of the RAM enzyme in the cells of this type of cancer.
Their proposed scheme also allows for a broader search for substances that could correct hormonal balance and reduce calcitonin levels in cells. This may not be a miracle cure for cancer, but it will at least slow growth and stabilize the tumor; in the case of small cell cancer, that's already a lot.
The researchers believe that the most optimal option is a method that would switch the enzyme's attention to another substrate so that it would activate less calcitonin and more oxytocin (after all, complete suppression of such an important enzyme will not lead to anything good). The authors of the work do not discuss whether it is possible to switch the RAM enzyme to another substrate on their own.
Oncology is not generally a subject for jokes, but anti-cancer therapy based on increasing levels of the “sex hormone” may be the most outstanding example of combining business with pleasure.