Dr Leszek Kotula, co-author of the WAVE1 study, explains in this video from 2013 how basic science research in his lab at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY will benefit prostate cancer patients with better diagnostic and treatment options.
April 7, 2015. Researchers at Upstate Medical University, NY and Harvard University have linked the loss of key gene, WAVE1, to a lethal form of prostate cancer. They found that in patients who were treated for prostate cancer, alterations in the WAVE1 gene were associated with a shorter remission.
Long term, these findings boost overall efforts to save lives lost to lethal, metastatic prostate cancer, Currently, the disease kills over 27 thousand men per year compared to an annual rate of 220,800 men diagnosed with the disease.
“We observed that prostate cancer tumors contain a frequent deletion of the WAVE 1 gene," said coauthor Leszek Kotula, MD, Ph.D., associate professor of urology and biochemistry and molecular biology at Upstate Medical University.
"What's important, though, is that this WAVE1 gene deletion occurs in metastatic and lethal cancer, thus suggesting that, the WAVE1 gene loss may represent an aggressive subtype of prostate cancer which is more challenging to treat and more likely to progress,” Kotula said.
“It is possible that patients who have tumors characterized by the deletion of the WAVE1 gene may benefit from earlier intervention, such as surgery or radiation therapy."
WAVE gene complexes are involved in cell movement and migration, cell-to-cell communication, and processes such as cell adhesion that can play a role in tumor progression and metastasis.
The study builds on Kotula's earlier identification of another gene, ABI1, as a tumor suppressor in prostate cancer. Seeking to find other genes that cooperate with ABI1 in the progression of prostate cancer, he and his colleagues identified the WAVE1 gene as a culprit.
Through figuring out that lethal prostate cancers show this disruption, says coauthor Adam G. Sowalsky, Ph.D., instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School, "we may be able to identify mechanisms that lead to the tumor cell acquiring resistance to advanced therapies."
"Understanding the biological consequences of this deletion," Sowalsky says, "will require further investigation.”
Kotula said his lab is now replicating the gene deletion in mice. Such work can aid in the development of drugs or new treatments to suppress tumors or provide more precision in the treatment of these aggressive cancers.
Notes
WAVE1 is short for Wiscott-Aldrich Syndrome protein/WASP-family verprolin-homologous protein.
Published in Oncotarget March 31, the study is freely available online:
Loss of wave1 defines a subtype of lethal prostate cancer
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense.