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Liver cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. It has a higher toll of mortality rate in men and is usually diagnosed at its later stage where treatment is no longer viable to save a life. While the most common cause of a liver cancer is an unhealthy lifestyle, increasing age, hepatic infection, smoking, and low immunity among others, the Cancer Research Institute could not point out a definite cause for the development of a liver cancer.

Liver cancer is not as prevalent in the United States as it is in other countries. The cancer has a lower rate of occurrence than prostate, lung and breast cancers. However, its prevalence worldwide is significant for being the second most common cancer with a higher risk among individuals with hepatitis and other liver disorders. Prevention is the best cure against liver cancer and a medical breakthrough gives a better hope of liver cancer prevention.

Prolactin and liver cancer prevention

A research made by Arlin Rogers has a revealing discovery that a certain hormone called prolactin can help prevent liver cancer. Prolactin is a hormone that normally helps mothers produce milk during lactation. It appears that while the hormone is not a cure for liver cancer, it can help prevent its development.

The prolactin tests began when Rogers and his group made an important experiment, using first the pituitary hormones. Taking liver cells and exposing them to the pituitary hormones showed an insignificant result where liver cancer cure is concerned. In the case of the prolactin hormone, liver cells that were exposed to it significantly reduced the agitation of cancer cells. The discovery also led to the conclusion that prolactin may have played a significant role in women as liver cancer is more common in men than women.

Rogers proved his research using mice as their experimental subject. The mice that were exposed without the prolactin hormone had the highest rate of cancer occurrence as opposed to the one with prolactin. The same experiment is used for the male mice in which the rate of cancer is the same as that of the female mice but with a significantly smaller size of tumor.

This revelation is being positively hailed with prolactin being one of the human hormones approved to be artificially produced by the administration of Food and Drugs Authority. Prior to this, prolactin is known to be used for gastrointestinal problems and psychiatric disorders as well.

Potential future in liver cancer prevention and cure

The research made by Rogers was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If the said experiment receives a high volume of supporters, this may be one of the unprecedented discoveries on a cure for liver cancer, not only in the United States, but throughout the whole world where at least 80% of liver cancer cases occur outside the United states.

The use of prolactin is the latest in the development of medicine. Since prolactin is now partly used in the market, its role in the prevention of liver cancer may come sooner than later. The Tuffs Medical Center work together with Rogers to develop more about the prolactin hormone and its connection to the cure or prevention of liver cancer. Today, Roger sees the prolactin hormone more as a liver cancer prevention than a cure but this is only an initial stage of research in an effort to find a cure for liver cancer.