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A link between cellular receptors and the malignancy of prostate cancer has been discovered by scientists from the Medical University of Gdańsk working on in international project.
The discovery, which could lead to the development of better methods for monitoring prostate cancer patients and selecting treatment, was made by researchers from the Medical Laboratory Diagnostics Department of the Medical University of Gdańsk and experts from the University of Illinois.
They showed a link between the expression volume of receptors for advanced glycation end products (RAGEs) and the malignancy rate of prostate cancer.
Healthy cells produce very few of these receptors, but their numbers are high in a variety of diseases, for example atherosclerosis, lung diseases and cardiomyopathies.
The work of the Polish-American team shows that these receptors can be used to assess the severity of prostate cancer (on the used Gleason scale).
Current methods of classifying patients are flawed and it is difficult to determine whether the patient requires radical treatment (prostate removal), radiotherapy, or can still simply be monitored.
According to the scientists, it is a big step towards developing an accurate and non-invasive method for assessing the disease.
Co-author of the report, Professor Lawrence W. Dobrucki, said the probe constructed for non-invasive, in vivo RAGE imaging enables quantifying the stage of cancer without the need for multiple PCa (prostate cancer) biopsies.
The method will also help in advanced cancer research.
The researchers point out that the BBMRI.pl Research Digitization Platform was used at the Medical Laboratory Diagnostics Department of the Medical University of Gdańsk and the University of Illinois.
The platform enables conducting multi-centre imaging studies using telemedicine solutions.
The research appeared in the European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.
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