One Step Closer to Targeted Cancer Treatments
Nature Communications Publishes TCOP Professor’s Research Identifying Structure of Hormone Receptors That Can Fuel Certain Cancer
Imagine a drug that halts cancer without side effects or risks. That future may be a bit nearer thanks to newly published research by Raj Kumar, PhD., chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences at Touro College of Pharmacy.
His lab has been studying steroid hormone receptors (SHRs), one of the most targeted proteins for cancer treatments.
Steroid hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, are targeted because cancer cells have higher-than normal levels of SHRs, which can fuel breast, prostate, and ovarian cancer.
But because these anti-hormone drugs also bind to SHRs in other cells in the body (such as in the uterus and bones), they often cause side effects and risks.
“You’re trying to cure breast cancer, but you’re increasing the effect of estrogen in uterine tissue which can lead to uterine cancer,” says Kumar.
“The ‘Holy Grail’ of SHR-based therapies for the treatment of endocrine cancers is to restrict SHR actions to specific organ and gene targets,” he says.
To do that, we need a better understanding of the structure of SHRs and how they interact with other proteins.
Kumar’s research, published in Nature Communications, provides the first detailed look at this steroid hormone receptor complex.
“When we know the whole SHR structure, and how associated proteins form the complex, then we can design a drug that can be specifically targeted to certain tissues,” says Kumar.
Differences in the steroid hormone receptor complex are why hormones — and potential medications — act differently in different types of cells and tissues.
A limited understanding of these structures has hampered the efforts to develop more effective target-specific drugs with minimal or no side effects. Kumar’s team has teased out differences in these structures using novel proteomics technology.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time we are showing this level of detail on the structure of a steroid hormone receptor coactivator complex,” says Kumar.
“This research will dramatically improve our ability to predictably disrupt steroid hormone receptor signaling and is likely to produce more effective drugs for the treatment of endocrine cancers with minimal or no undesired serious side effects,” says Kumar.
This work was supported by an NIH grant and was a collaborative effort with researchers from Baylor College of Medicine and UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology.
