‘Dear men, you are making it easier for me to kill you’ — prostate cancer’s personal note on its meteoric rise

Prostate cancer (PCa) is a major public health issue among the male population worldwide. It is the most widely diagnosed cancer in the world and third-most diagnosed cancer in India as per the American Cancer Society and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) respectively. 

These days, the spread of cancer cells from the original tumour to other parts of the body (metastasis) and the sheer aggressiveness of cancer cells are the biggest challenges in treating patients.  

Recent epidemiological studies suggest that a significant increase in the incidence of PCa has been diagnosed in adolescent and adult male populations that belong to the age group of 15-40 years, indicating the rising aggressiveness of the lethal disease.

However, little is known about what causes androgen receptor positive (AR+) PCa to become more aggressive. Fortunately, we now have enough scientific evidence to conclude that exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) aggravates prostate cancer cells. 

Yours menacingly — introducing PCa

Hello friends, I am PCa. The fast growing swathes of my empire transcend boundaries of nations, cultures, ethnicities and race. 

But do you really know me? You should. 

Previously, I was only concerned with targeting the older male population but now, my targets have been updated and much younger males are on my hit-list.

I am mighty but also tired and much frustrated. Let me tell you how I updated my weapon-systems to have a more devastating effect on my targets. 

The journey of my life

Before the Industrial Revolution, I lived silently inside the human bodies and didn’t make much fuss but the frustration in me was growing with every passing day.

It was because rarely did I manage to kill a man. 

This is because these men were well guarded by their collective mother — the great mother Earth. The men, in those times, lived lives that adhered to mother Earth.

Smoking was not prevalent. In fact, in those times, navigators and traders had just landed upon tobacco leaves which were till then, only used by the native American tribes in North and the South Americas. Those continents had barely been discovered by then.

Huh, old times!

Also, the use of pesticides, plasticisers, and other human-made chemicals was unheard of. The men of those times believed that their body is sacred, akin to a temple, and nurturing it with good food and a good mood will take them a long way. 

They were all fond of organic cultivation and used jute bags for storage because they are organic and eco-friendly. But wait a second, the words organic and eco-friendly had not made their way to the common diction back then.

These men use  words in their colloquial language today but their lives are completely divorced from the meaning of what these words mean.  

After the industrial revolution, men started to using new chemicals such as plasticisers, personal care products and food additives.

These environmental chemicals interfere with our endocrine systems (EDCs; responsible for the production of hormones). With the passage of time, men started eating fish, eggs, and milk-based products which were actually contaminated with toxic pollutants. 

Fast food and packaging became more frequent, and brought about a paradigm shift in his lifestyle — a shift that made it easier to attack my targets.

At this juncture, I also need to inform you about my allies in this war against men — race, age, epigenetic  factors are all on my side. 

It is because of these risk factors that I initially assume the form of benign prostate hyperplasia and then destroy their bodies with my not so benign forms. 

However, despite such unprecedented changes in his lifestyle as a male homo sapien, he didn’t care much about the adverse consequences of his life choices.

He was completely unaware of the ‘xenobiotics’ or the  chemical substances that are foreign to life and are not found naturally  in organisms or the environment] proceeding around me.

Xenobiotics — my faithful friends

One fine day, I encountered xenobiotics and they immediately proposed friendship. I accepted their proposal and the rest is history. 

I was glad and enjoying our friendship. As time passed, the frequency of the arrival of new xenobiotics kept increasing. 

Now, with the collaboration with these xenobiotics,  I can make trillions of copies like me with the help of my coworkers such as epigenetic regulators — HDAC1 and DNMT1. 

My empire was gaining power by leaps and bounds. I was ready to unleash my wrath on humans by enhancing metastasis and aggressiveness with the help of these environmental pollutants.

My journey from rags to riches

Recently, I was basking in the glory of my success on a sunny afternoon, enjoying a tea party with friends and reading my favourite magazine Endocrine News on the Internet. 

Upon reading an article in the magazine, I was delighted to learn that human beings were scared of me. 

Scientists were curious to know the secret of my success. I found that scientists have decoded the relationship with one of my colleagues, i.e., oestrogen receptors with xenobiotic chemicals.

I am also trying to collaborate with this potential friend. Our collaboration with similar endocrine agents might help me rapidly metastasise into the human body.

Cancer biologists are obsessed with me since I am aggressive and metastasizing rapidly. They are still unaware of the relationship of AR with xenobiotics. These scientists feel helpless and I laugh sadistically, enjoying their helplessness. 

They fail to identify our collaboration with environmental pollutants that helps in metastasis and aggressiveness of my AR+ cells. 

My AR workers were confident; they asked me if we would increase in the context of leaps and bounds; before I could reply, another worker, HDAC1 and DNMT1, replied. 

Decisive moment

Recently, my life was pretty challenging because the coronavirus sought everyone’s attention. I felt, kind of, ignored. 

While reading an article on Endocrine Society on the internet, I was amazed and simultaneously troubled.

Hard to believe that researchers have decoded our relationship with environmental pollutants. They retrieved my secret relationship, and found that deadly chemicals selectively target prostate cancer cells and enhance aggressiveness. 

They concluded that this happened because these chemicals bind to AR workers.

Thus, they identified that our co-worker AR and their epigenetic relatives are strongly connected with environmental pollutants.

In the end, these investigators recognised the secret of my relationships with my friends and the resulting success of my enterprise. 

Then the countdown of my empire began. 

I think investigators will not sit idle until they reveal my secret to people. Now sensible people will hate my collaborators and try to boycott them.