U de S researchers make prostate cancer breakthrough

ARecord Staff

team of researchers from the Université de Sherbrooke Faculty of Medicine has discovered a major biochemical mechanism that could hold the key to how Prostate Cancer, the most common form of cancer in men, progresses. The breakthrough, published in Cancer Research, appears so promising that the team is already beginning work on diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

The group at had already identified the PACE4 enzyme, which is over-expressed in certain individuals. Inhibiting this protein blocks the progression of prostate cancer. Nevertheless, the protein's mechanism of action had remained poorly understood.

Research professor Robert Day from the Urology Division of the Department of Surgery, at the Centre de recherche clinique du CHUS, and his team made a completely unexpected discovery when they found that the PACE4 enzyme, in fact, has a small twin in an alternative form. This ‘isoform’ protein, referred to as alternative PACE4, is produced as the result of PACE4 undergoing internal transformation. Unlike PACE4, which is found in all body cells, alternative PACE4 only occurs in cancer cells.

"All our research efforts were focused on the PACE4 protein in prostate cancer, so finding an alternative form was quite a surprise," revealed Day. "This chance discovery has proven very significant because we now know that it's the alternative form that plays an important role in the progression of cancer cells." Alternative PACE4 is also found in other cancers such as the thyroid, pancreatic, and lung cancer.

Biochemistry doctoral student Frédéric Couture—a member of the research team and first author of the article published in Cancer Research—was also amazed by this breakthrough. Couture pointed out that "the discovery will lead to the development of optimal therapeutic targets, which is a considerable source of hope for prostate - cancer patients. It also opens the way for new avenues in terms of diagnosis and more personalized treatment. There is reason to have high hopes for the future!"

This research - primarily funded by the Movember Foundation and Prostate Cancer Canada, with assistance from the Canadian Cancer Society and La Fondation Mon Étoi l- wouldn't have come about without the collaboration of surgeon and urologist Robert Sabbagh, who manages and operates on many prostate cancer patients in addition to heading up several research projects on the topic. Sabbagh, an active contributor to the biobank and database for cancer research, has worked with Day from the outset of his research. This coalescence of scientific and clinical expertise produces an incomparable perspective of the reality of patients and research.