Japanese research team report
[의학신문·일간보사=정우용 기자] A study has found that if the secretion of male hormones decreases as a result of prostate cancer treatment, the type of intestinal bacteria in the patient decreases.
A research team at Juntendo University in Japan reported that it was a research result that could be involved in the onset of obesity and depression, known as side effects of prostate cancer treatment, and suppressed side effects of treatment by developing a meal menu to protect the types of intestinal bacteria. announced the possibility of doing so.
Prostate cancer treatment includes endocrine therapy, which suppresses cancer cell proliferation by reducing the secretion of male hormones such as testosterone with radiation therapy or non-surgical drugs. However, endocrine therapy has been reported to cause side effects such as obesity and depression. Changes in the type of intestinal bacteria have also been confirmed to be involved in the risk of these symptoms, and it has been pointed out that there is some relationship between male hormones and intestinal bacteria.
The research team used the ‘next-generation sequencer’, a device that regularly collects feces and reads genetic information at high speed from 2 weeks before endocrine therapy to about 6 months after endocrine therapy for about 20 Japanese prostate cancer patients, to determine the type of intestinal bacteria and Quantitative changes were analyzed.
After treatment, the concentration of testosterone in the blood decreased, and about 3 months after the start of treatment, the types of intestinal bacteria decreased, and the types of bacteria that were not originally present in abundance disappeared and their diversity was lost. The research team believes that changes in the gut bacteria may have an impact on the development of treatment side effects.
Since it is not clear how the decrease in testosterone leads to a decrease in the type of intestinal bacteria, the research team pointed out that further research is needed in the future.