In a groundbreaking research paper published in the journal Cell, researchers have for the first time found treatment options for patients with ‘metastatic’ prostate cancer, spreading to their bones and vital organs.

The study, conducted by British and US scientists, being called the ‘Rosetta stone’ of prostate cancer, has revealed that this is not a single disease, but many diseases are driven by their own set of mutations. By zeroing in on these actionable mutations, personalized treatment plans could be devised for men suffering from this advanced disease, giving them a new lease of life.

The researchers, in an attempt to attack metastatic prostate cancer, harvested a collection of samples of tumors of 150 men with the disease. Unlike previous studies, the doctors took needle biopsies from patients ‘during’ the course of their treatment. The disease in these subjects had spread to the bones, soft tissues, lymph nodes and livers.

They found that almost 90 percent of the men whose DNA they tested had potentially treatable defects. However, all the men had metastatic castration-resistant disease, which meant that their tumors were no longer responding to standard hormone therapies.

They also found that 8 percent of the men were born with genetic faults that inclined them to contract prostate cancer, which meant that subjects with a family history of the disease were more prone to developing it.

However, the findings potentially open up new avenues for hormone therapy development. The research suggests that men, who showed mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, could be treated effectively with drugs known as PARP inhibitors. Other genetic mutations in the PI3K and RAF gene families could also be targeted by existing drugs either approved for use in clinics or currently undergoing trials.

Thus, the current study has unwrapped the black box of metastatic cancer, opening up a gamut of genetic information that will help make further headway into the field of precision medicine.