Medindia LOGIN REGISTER
Medindia
Can Testosterone be Used to Treat Cancer

Can Testosterone be Used to Treat Cancer

Listen to this article
0:00/0:00

Testosterone is required for the recruitment of immune cells that can destroy tumor cells.

Highlights:
  • Hormone stimulation could be used to treat cancer
  • The male hormone testosterone is necessary for the recruitment of macrophages, the immune cells that can eliminate tumor cells
Why are females more likely to get adrenal gland cancer? Why are the outlooks for them worse?

Immune Cells that Destroy Tumor Cells

These inquiries are addressed by a scientific team under the direction of a CNRS researcher in a paper published in Science Advances. They show there is larger recruitment of immune cells called macrophages, which can destroy tumor cells, in male mice. Therefore, aggressive tumor progression is rarely observed in male mice, while macrophages do not inhibit the metastasis of tumors in female mice. The researchers discovered through molecular analysis that testosterone is required for the recruitment of macrophages that fight tumors.

Hormones to Treat Adrenal Cancer

Macrophages with the ability to eliminate tumor cells were mobilized to fight after the hormone was simply administered to females. Based on these results, the researchers conducted a second study using human data, which also found that men and women with adrenal cancer recruited macrophages at different rates. This finding raises the possibility that hormone stimulation could be used to treat this cancer, whose five-year survival rate is only 30%.

Source-Medindia


Advertisement