High testosterone levels increase endometrial cancer risk

A new study led by the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute has found that the hormone testosterone may play an important role in the development of endometrial cancer, raising new possibilities for screening, preventing and fighting this increasingly prevalent disease. The research has been published in the journal iScience.

The researchers carried out advanced genetic analysis to identify independent risk factors for endometrial cancer, including waist circumference, age at onset of menstruation and menopause, and testosterone levels. The testosterone connection was related to a specific region of the human genome which the study discovered has links to a higher risk of endometrial cancer.

“Everyone has testosterone, but our research suggests that women with higher levels of the hormone are at greater risk of developing endometrial cancer,” said QIMR’s Associate Professor Tracy O’Mara, who co-led the study alongside Associate Professor Dylan Glubb.

“It is very promising to see testosterone levels emerge so strongly as a likely risk factor, because a person’s testosterone can be modified.

“There are already approved drugs designed to block and counteract the hormone’s effects. Further research may justify trying to repurpose those drugs to help women with endometrial cancer.”

O’Mara said the study gives hope that existing hormone therapies may offer a new option for treatment, as the current first line of defence against endometrial cancer is a hysterectomy. “This is obviously highly invasive, and affects fertility in younger patients,” she said.

The release of the results comes as O’Mara and Glubb enter the next stage of their research, made possible by a grant from the US Department of Defense. Glubb said they would use laboratory-grown organoids, resembling endometrial cancer tumours, to investigate genes involved in the development of the disease.

“We have identified a significant number of genetic regions linked to endometrial cancer, but we don’t yet know which particular genes are involved,” Glubb said. “This study allows us to test which genes are important for the growth of the organoids and the endometrial cancer tumours they represent.

“Our ultimate goal is finding new genes which can be targeted to treat endometrial cancer, as we know drugs with a genetic basis are more likely to be effective.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Mohammed Haneefa Nizamudeen