Prostate cancer, which is very common cancer in Australian men, can be treated by estrogen, which is a hormone normally associated with women, according to the research done by biomedical scientists of Monash University.

Earlier prostate cancer was being treated by withdrawing male hormone testosterone from the patient but in this process most of the cells were killed, the few that remained lead to the recurrent, incurable disease.

"The research showed that drugs that activate one of the two estrogen receptors, causes cell death. Most commonly cell death in patients with prostate cancer is achieved by withdrawing androgens resulting in castration. Although the bulk of the tumor is removed by castration, some cells remain and these castrate-resistant cells are the ones that give rise to recurrent incurable disease”, said lead scientist Prof Gail Risbridger.

This discovery was made on animal models and then finally tested using human cells and tissues from patients with prostate cancer.