PROSTATE cancer therapy is expected to be improved as a result of local and international researchers jointly identifying a new cause of treatment resistance in prostate cancer.

The discovery by researchers from Fudan University and the Second Military Medical University in Shanghai, as well as the Mayo Clinic in America, was published in Nature Medicine, a leading medical journal.

BET-inhibitors are used as a therapy for prostate cancer as they can prevent actions of Bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) proteins, which help to guide the abnormal growth of cancer cells. But drug resistance often develops.

The researchers found that when they use BET inhibitors with AKT (protein kinases) inhibitors, they could overcome the BET inhibitor.

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men worldwide, causing more than 250,000 deaths a year.