Protein NSD2 found to drive early prostate cancer development

Researchers at the University of Michigan Health Rogel Cancer Center have uncovered a key reason that a typically normal protein goes awry and fuels cancer. They found that the protein NSD2 alters the function of the androgen receptor, an important regulator of normal prostate development. When an androgen receptor binds with NSD2, it causes rapid cell division and growth, leading to prostate cancer .

The study, published in Nature Genetics , may suggest a new way to therapeutically target prostate cancer. The findings illuminate a phenomenon not previously understood. The androgen receptor's normal function is to define the development of the prostate.

It tells the cells to stop growing and maintain a normal prostate. But in cancer, the androgen receptor does the opposite: It tells the cells to continue growing and drive cancer development. "Our study is one of the first molecular explanations for this functional duality of the androgen receptor," said study first author Abhijit Parolia, Ph.

D., Rogel fellow and assistant professor of pathology at Michigan Medicine. "NSD2 is a cancer specific collaborator of the androgen receptor that essentially rewires its activity to support prostate cancer development.

" Researchers started with a CRISPR screening to look for co-factors involved in the androgen receptor and prostate cancer. They scoured the enhanceosome, a complex of multiple proteins, including transcription factors and other epigenetic factors , that assemble on the DNA .