Reduced levels of an anti-cancer protein make male brain cells more vulnerable to becoming tumors, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.<\/p>\n
New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis helps explain why brain tumours occur more often in males and frequently are more harmful than similar tumours in females. For example, glioblastomas, the most common malignant brain tumours, are diagnosed twice as often in males, who suffer greater cognitive impairments than females and do not survive as long.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that retinoblastoma protein (RB), a protein known to reduce cancer risk, is significantly less active in male brain cells than in female brain cells.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first time anyone ever has identified a sex-linked difference that affects tumour risk and is intrinsic to cells, and that\u2019s very exciting,\u201d said senior author Joshua Rubin, MD, PhD. \u201cThese results suggest we need to go back and look at multiple pathways linked to cancer, checking for sex differences. Sex-based distinctions at the level of the cell may not only influence cancer risk but also the effectiveness of treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubin noted that RB is the target of drugs now being evaluated in clinical trials. Trial organizers hope the drugs trigger the protein\u2019s anti-tumour effects and help cancer patients survive longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn clinical trials, we typically examine data from male and female patients together, and that could be masking positive or negative responses that are limited to one sex,\u201d said Rubin, who is an associate professor of pediatrics, neurology and anatomy and neurobiology. \u201cAt the very least, we should think about analysing data for males and females separately in clinical trials.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scientists have identified many sex-linked diseases that either occur at different rates in males and females or cause different symptoms based on sex. These distinctions often are linked to sex hormones, which create and maintain many but not all of the biological differences between the sexes.<\/p>\n
However, Rubin and his colleagues knew that sex hormones could not account for the differences in brain tumour risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cMale brain tumor risk remains higher throughout life despite major age-linked shifts in sex hormone production in males and females,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the sex hormones were causing this effect, we\u2019d see major changes in the relative rates of brain tumours in males and females at puberty. But they don\u2019t happen then or later in life when menopause changes female sex hormone production.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rubin used a cell model of glioblastoma to prove it is easier to make male brain cells become tumors. After a series of genetic alterations and exposure to a growth factor, male brain cells became cancerous faster and more often than female brain cells.\nWashington University School of Medicine<\/link>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Reduced levels of an anti-cancer protein make male brain cells more vulnerable to becoming tumors, according to a new study at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis helps explain why brain tumours occur more often in males and frequently are more harmful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clinlabint.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}