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New mechanism for prostate cancer growth discovered
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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Scientists at the UK Cancer Centre have discovered a new way in which male androgen hormones fuel the growth of prostate tumours.
The results of the study, published in the journal Molecular Endocrinology, suggest that some of the existing drugs could be used to effectively treat the disease.
Prostate cancer is most often treated with hormonal therapy that targets the androgen receptor (AR), a large protein that switches on a signaling pathway that causes cells to divide. As you might expect, this is the protein that is most active in tumor cells. But the AR does not operate in a vacuum; it operates in a special ecosystem, interacting with proteins such as HSP90 and p23, which help it fold into its activated form.
It was previously thought that p23 and HSP90 must work together to trigger AR, but the current study suggests that p23 lives and works on its own, independent of its potential partners, to increase AR activity.
This seemingly inconspicuous discovery has a simple but important implication: a drug that blocks p23 activity could be an effective treatment for prostate cancer that is resistant to HSP90 blockers. In fact, such a therapy could be much more effective.
Fortunately, there are drugs that can stop p23, such as Celastrol, a natural drug (originally from traditional Chinese medicine). Celastrol has already shown its usefulness in treating arthritis and asthma, meaning it could be put into clinical trials on cancer patients today.
To establish an independent role for p23 in activating the AR receptor, the scientists used a modified version of the latter that was unable to bind to HSP90, as well as (as a comparison sample) a modified p23 that could not bind to AR. The result of these combinations was the conclusion that p23 does not need intermediaries to trigger AR.
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