Can a single model explain both breast cancer and prostate cancer?

This model proposes that the first step in the development of most PC and breast cancer (BC) occurs when aromatase converts testosterone to estradiol (E2). A sufficiently high enough local level of E2 results in telomerase activity. The telomerase activity allows cell division and may lead to BC or PC, which will proliferate if the rate of cell division is greater than the rate of cell death. The effect of hormones on their hormone receptors will affect the rate of cell death and determine whether or not the cancer proliferates.By minimizing bcl-2 and maximizing apoptotic proteins, new systemic treatments for BC and PC can be developed that may be more effective than existing treatments.The Estradiol-Dihydrotestosterone (E-D) model [1] of prostate cancer (PC) describes how PC works at the level of hormone receptors. In this model, no hormone is "good" or "bad", but the effect of each hormone is determined by its interaction with its hormone receptors. Each hormone receptor has an effect on apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Table 1 summarizes this model, with ↑ representing upregulation and ↓ representing downregulation. Although the exact mechanism of how the intracellular androgen receptor (iAR) is able to counter the effects of the membrane androgen receptor (mAR) is not known, for diagrammatic purposes, the process is represented in Table 1 as downregulation. This model can be expanded and extended to encompass breast cancer (BC) as well.Aromatase (Aro) is an enzyme which converts testosterone (T) to estradiol (E2). If the Aro activity is high enough, a process is started that may result in BC or PC. High local levels of E2 result in human telomerase production and activity. If the rate of growth (RG) is greater than the rate of cell death (RD), then these cells will proliferate and cancer may result. Telomerase activity was sufficient to transform human cell lines that ordinarily have limited life spans into immortalized cell lines [2].This model makes the as