Could testosterone be used to treat a very rare cancer?

Meet the scientist

Pierre is a licensed amateur radio operator talking to fellow radio operators throughout the world. He also enjoys electronics, computer programming, and photography. He runs two to three times a week to release the pressure from work. His favourite book is “the New York Trilogy” by Paul Auster and his favourite movie is “Ghost Dog: the way of the Samurai” by Jim Jarmusch. He really is a foodie, and enjoys everything that’s tasty, elaborate and a bit spicy!

The science

The researchers believe that testosterone could help our immune system to recognize and attack adrenocortical tumours. The hormone seems to help a type of white blood cell, called a macrophage, engulf and ‘eat’ the cancer cells. This slows the speed of cancer growth. 

To find out if testosterone really could help to treat this cancer, Dr Val and his team will now test whether the hormone can effectively treat the disease in mice. The mice will have different types of adrenocortical cancer that are molecularly very similar to the human cancer. 

Because testosterone is a hormone that our bodies already naturally produce in different quantities, it may not be a suitable treatment for everyone. So Dr Val will also investigate the exact molecular processes that make testosterone such a potentially effective treatment. This will help to identify possible new mechanisms that brand new cancer drugs could target, that should be suitable for more people. 

Research into rare cancers can be difficult, which makes this work even more important. Ultimately, Dr Val’s work will help to identify possible new cures that could one day improve the lives of patients with adrenocortical cancer. It will also help us to understand in more detail how hormones can influence cancer growth in general, and how this could be used to find even more cancer cures.