Sex Hormones and Colorectal Cancer: What Have We Learned So Far?

Abstract

The androgen dependence of prostate cancer has led to therapeutic strategies designed to lower androgen levels to treat this cancer. Circulating male hormones including the principal androgen, testosterone, are synthesized primarily in the testes and also in the adrenal glands and peripheral tissues. In most prostate cancer patients, treatment with gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonists or orchidectomy effectively inhibits testicular androgen synthesis and lowers plasma testosterone levels close to the detection limit of most conventional assays, leading to a reduction in plasma levels of prostate-specific antigen and tumor regression. However, the treatment also comes with several adverse effects and, over time, a subset of tumor cells survives in the androgen-depleted environment and becomes resistant to the therapies.