Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men worldwide. Despite medical advances in recent years, this type of tumor is still responsible for one in eight male cancer deaths in Austria alone. An international research team led by MedUni Vienna has now investigated a new strategy for the development of treatment options that not only slow tumor growth, but also stimulate the immune system to combat tumor cells.
The results of the study are published in Molecular Cancer . The scientific team focused its investigations on the GP130 signaling pathway , which researchers expect to have a major potential in the fight against cancer. The signaling pathway, which is mediated by the protein GP130, plays a central role in cell communication and influences the activity of the transcription factor STAT3, which in turn is associated with the development and spread of tumors.
Accordingly, blocking the GP130 signaling pathway is currently seen as a great hope in cancer medicine. Yet the current study proves the opposite: tumor growth can be slowed down not by inhibiting but by activating the GP130 signaling pathway in prostate cells. New hope, especially for aggressive tumors To achieve these new findings, the researchers investigated genetically modified mice in which GP130 was specifically activated in the prostate.
"This allowed us to directly observe the reduction in tumor growth in the cell," reports Lukas Kenner (Clinical Department of Pathology, MedUni Vienna), who led the.