The hormone testosterone may play an important role in the development of endometrial cancer, a study by QIMR Berghofer found. It was conducted by associate professors Tracy O’Mara and Dylan Glaub and published in the journal iScience. After genetic analysis, the researchers identified five independent risk factors for the development of endometrial cancer. These risk factors include body weight, age at menarche and menopause, and testosterone levels. Women with higher levels of the hormone are at greater risk of developing endometrial cancer, the researchers found. Establishing a link between testosterone and endometrial cancer opens up potential new avenues for treatment, the authors explain. This is promising because, if testosterone levels are such a strong risk factor, then it can be controlled, ie. there are ways to affect testosterone levels. Endometrial cancer develops in the innermost layer of the uterine cavity, and in most cases it is due to a pathological change in the structure of the cells that make it up. In Bulgaria, this disease is socially significant. However, treatment options are limited, with the most common being hysterectomy (surgical removal of the uterus). It is an invasive technique and affects fertility in younger patients. These exciting findings give hope that by targeting or inhibiting testosterone with already existing drugs, endometrial cancer may be treatable. The testosterone link has been linked to a specific region of the human genome that has been linked to a higher risk of endometrial cancer. A significant number of genetic regions have been identified, but it is not yet known which specific genes are involved. There are now approved drugs designed to block and counteract the effects of the hormone. Given the importance of discovering new therapeutic options for treatment, future studies will use laboratory-created endometrial cancer-like cells to investigate the genes involved in the development of the disease. The ultimate goal is to find new genes that can be targeted to treat endometrial cancer, as genetically based drugs are more effective. The discovery provides new opportunities for screening, prevention and combating this increasingly common disease – endometrial cancer and gives hope that existing hormonal therapies can be a good alternative for treatment. References: Xuemin Wang et al, Multi-trait genome-wide association study identifies a novel endometrial cancer risk locus that associates with testosterone levels, iScience (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106590