Daniel Kelly, Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry at Sheffield Hallam University, shared a post on LinkedIn:
“Here is another article I wrote for The Conversation which was published Christmas Eve (sorry for the delay in posting here, but I had a break over Christmas), this time on how the narrative on testosterone and prostate cancer (PCa) has shifted over the years.
Testosterone is no longer seen as a simple PCa villain – in many men it is now considered safe (including those with previous PCa), maybe protective, and in some contexts even potentially useful in PCa treatment.
Testosterone pioneer Abraham Morgentaler’s clinical work was pivotal in challenging the idea that testosterone therapy inevitably fuels prostate cancer – overturning decades of dogma.
This shift was reflected in discussions by a recent FDA advisory panel considering label changes for testosterone products.
AR action is still central to PCa but evidence shows a complex, dose‑dependent relationship between testosterone and disease development and progression.
Donald McDonnell’s ground-breaking mechanistic studies on AR signaling explain how different testosterone levels can either drive or restrain tumor growth.
Together, this underpins the shift described in this article – from fear of testosterone therapy causing PCa to exploring it as a potential protective ally and possible treatment in carefully selected PCa patients.”
Donald McDonnell, Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology at Duke University School of Medicine, shared this post, adding:
“Thanks for writing this piece Dan and thanks for highlighting our work in this area.
The project was led by a fearless scientist in my group, Rachid Safi.
When this article was in review one reviewer actually said ‘this paper should be banned from the literature’, hard to ‘turn the ship around’.”
You can read the full article on The Coversation.
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