In a study of more than 1300 patients, the team found that the follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) receptor – which is normally present only at low levels in the blood vessels or the granulosa cells of the ovary and the Sertoli cells of the testis – is also expressed at higher levels in eleven different types of cancer. The receptor was absent in other normal tissues, including normal tissue from the organ bearing the tumour. Not only does the FSH receptor appear to be specific for endothelial cells in the vasculature surrounding tumour tissues, it is also present from the very early stages and is easily detectable using conventional imaging methods. In most cases, the blood vessels expressing FSH receptors were at the periphery of the tumour, in a layer about 10mm thick, making it a good target for improving cancer detection and also guiding surgery and radiation treatment. Blocking FSH receptor signalling, which stimulates angiogenesis via up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor, could also potentially provide a new strategy for developing anticancer drugs.
The study is published in The New England Journal of Medicine.