Study results emphasize the importance of personalized medicine
According to researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and the University of South Florida, men with prostate cancer who receive androgen deprivation therapy may, in all likelihood, suffer from fatigue if they have single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 3 proinflammatory genes.
“We found that prostate cancer patients who carry the variants of the IL6 and TNFA genes and are treated with androgen deprivation therapy are susceptible to heightened fatigue,” said study coprincipal investigator Heather S.L. Jim, PhD, assistant member of the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program.
Previous prostate cancer studies have suggested that proinflammatory cytokines, which are associated with fatigue in cancer patients, are influenced by testosterone, which inhibits IL6 gene expression. Testosterone is restricted by androgen deprivation therapy.
“The goal of our study was to examine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms in genes that regulate proinflammatory cytokines can predict changes in fatigue in men receiving androgen deprivation therapy,” said coprincipal investigator Paul B. Jacobsen, PhD, associate center director for Cancer Prevention & Control at Moffitt. “We hypothesized that patients displaying variants at these sites would display greater increases in fatigue following initiation of androgen deprivation therapy.”
Study results showed that patients with a larger number of variants reported greater increases in fatigue and of longer duration.
Initial findings from this study “represent an important first step in identifying genetic variation as a predictor of fatigue secondary to androgen deprivation therapy,” the researchers concluded. In the future, new SNPs may be revealed and help to explain the mechanisms of inflammatory gene transcription as they relate to fatigue in cancer patients.
“Early identification of patients with genetic risk factors can enable clinicians to provide timely interventions, behavioral or pharmacologic, to prevent or reduce fatigue,” Jacobsen said. “This goal is consistent with personalized cancer treatment tailored to individual gene profiles to maximize benefit and minimize side effects.”
The study appears in the October issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity.
Source: Moffitt Cancer Center.