PGC1α curtails prostate cancer metastasis via metabolic rewiring

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men; and in spite of recent therapeutic advances, it remains the fifth leading cause of male cancer deaths worldwide (1,2). Aside from prostatectomy and radiation, used with curative intent for the treatment of localized prostate cancer, approved life-prolonging treatment options for metastasized prostate cancer are limited to androgen receptor signaling inhibitors, microtubule targeting taxane chemotherapeutics, the bone targeted radioisotope Ra223, and active immunotherapy with sipuleucel-T (2). Hence, to improve prostate cancer care it is essential to identify novel treatment targets (3). Comprehensive genetic analyses have revealed a number of actionable molecular aberrations, including alterations of the PI3K-AKT and WNT signaling pathways, and DNA repair defects (4-6).