Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Keimyung University, 41931 Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Dec 15;117(50):31993-32004. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2013595117. Epub 2020 Dec 1.
Effective cancer prevention requires the discovery and intervention of a factor critical to cancer development. Here we show that ovarian progesterone is a crucial endogenous factor inducing the development of primary tumors progressing to metastatic ovarian cancer in a mouse model of high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC), the most common and deadliest ovarian cancer type. Blocking progesterone signaling by the pharmacologic inhibitor mifepristone or by genetic deletion of the progesterone receptor (PR) effectively suppressed HGSC development and its peritoneal metastases. Strikingly, mifepristone treatment profoundly improved mouse survival (∼18 human years). Hence, targeting progesterone/PR signaling could offer an effective chemopreventive strategy, particularly in high-risk populations of women carrying a deleterious mutation in the gene.
有效的癌症预防需要发现和干预对癌症发展至关重要的因素。在这里,我们表明卵巢孕激素是一种关键的内源性因素,它可诱导在高级别浆液性卵巢癌(HGSC)的小鼠模型中发生的原发性肿瘤发展为转移性卵巢癌,HGSC 是最常见且最致命的卵巢癌类型。通过药理学抑制剂米非司酮或孕激素受体(PR)的基因缺失来阻断孕激素信号,可有效抑制 HGSC 的发展及其腹膜转移。引人注目的是,米非司酮治疗显著提高了小鼠的存活率(约 18 个人类年)。因此,靶向孕激素/PR 信号可能提供一种有效的化学预防策略,特别是在携带基因有害突变的高危女性人群中。