October 1, 2007, 5:06 AM CT
Standard treatment for prostate cancer may encourage spread
A popular prostate cancer therapy called androgen deprivation treatment may encourage prostate cancer cells to produce a protein that makes them more likely to spread throughout the body, a new study by Johns Hopkins scientists suggests.
Eventhough the finding could eventually lead to changes in this standard therapy for a sometimes deadly disease, the Johns Hopkins scientists caution that their discovery is far too preliminary for patients with prostate cancer or physicians to stop using it. The treatment is effective at slowing tumor growth, they emphasized.
David Berman, an assistant professor of pathology, urology and oncology at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and colleagues identified the unsuspected potential problem with therapys that suppress testosterone after discovering that the gene that codes for the protein, called nestin, was active in lab-grown human prostate cancer cells.
Curious about whether prostate cancer cells in people also produce nestin, the scientists looked for it in cells taken from men who had surgery to remove locally confined cancers of their prostates and found none. But when they looked for nestin in prostate cancer cells isolated from patients who had died of metastatic prostate cancer - in which cancer cells spread out from the prostate tumor - they found substantial evidence that the nestin gene was active.........
Posted by: Mark Read more Source
July 8, 2007, 10:06 PM CT
Genetic Risk Factor For Colorectal And Prostate Cancer
A study led by scientists at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) has observed that one of seven genetic risk factors previously identified as increasing the probability of developing prostate cancer also increases the probability of developing colorectal cancer. As in the prior prostate cancer study, which was also conducted by USC scientists and reported in the April 2007 edition of Nature Genetics, the colorectal cancer risk factor is located in a region of the human genome devoid of known genes on chromosome 8. The studys complete findings would be reported in the July 8 online edition of Nature Genetics.
This is an important finding because, for the first time, a common genetic risk factor for multiple cancers has been identified, says lead author Christopher Haiman, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. Adding, There appears to be something fundamental occurring in this region that influences not only colorectal and prostate cancer, but perhaps cancers in general. (Another recently published study, in which USC scientists also were involved, identified variants in this same chromosomal region as playing a predictive role relative to the risk of developing breast cancer.).
For the current colorectal cancer study, the USC team genotyped six of the seven variants previously identified as increasing the risk of prostate cancer development. The samples analyzed totaled 1,807 invasive colorectal cancer cases and 5,511 controls. These samples were drawn from five populations (African Americans, Japanese Americans, Native Hawaiians, Latinos, and European Americans) included in the Multiethnic Cohort Study, an epidemiological study of more than 215,000 people from Los Angeles and Hawaii created in 1993 by Brian Henderson, dean, Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Laurence Kolonel of the University of Hawaii.........
Posted by: Sue Read more Source
December 13, 2006, 4:39 AM CT
Older Men With Early Prostate Cancer
Recent findings from an observational study by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine suggest that men between 65 and 80 years of age who received therapy for early stage, localized prostate cancer lived significantly longer than men who did not receive therapy. The study would be reported in the December 13th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Thanks to better cancer prevention education and the resulting wide-spread increase in using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screenings, more men are being diagnosed with early-stage and low-or intermediate-grade prostate cancer. Studies have shown that the slow-developing nature of prostate cancer during its earliest stages makes therapy options, such as a radical prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate) and radiation treatment, controversial with unpredictable outcomes. Often, recently diagnosed men of this group were advised to just "watch and wait" to see how their situation progressed.
"For this study we looked back over the existing data of a large population of patients with prostate cancer, aged 65 to 80, with small tumors that were at a low or intermediate risk of spreading," said senior author Katrina Armstrong, MD, MSCE, who worked on the study with colleagues from Penn's Abramson Cancer Center, Center for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Leonard Davis Institute of Health and Economics, and Division of Internal Medicine, and Fox Chase Cancer Center. "After accounting for all their differences, we discovered that the men - who within six months of diagnosis underwent surgery or radiation treatment - were 31 percent less likely to die than those who did not undergo therapy during that time".........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
November 5, 2006, 8:39 PM CT
Six Months Of Hormone Therapy Enough For Prostate Cancer
Patients with prostate cancer treated with either radiation or surgery who use hormone treatment for longer than six months do not survive any longer than patients who use the therapy for a shorter amount of time, as per a research studypresented November 5, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
"A number of patients with high risk prostate cancer are treated with two or more years of hormone treatment based on studies performed over a decade ago," said Cliff Robinson, M.D., lead author of the study and a radiation oncologist at Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. "Our study's findings suggest that treating current patients with shorter-term hormone treatment may not only be equally effective, but also improve their quality of life, due to a lesser degree of therapy side effects."
The authors also observed that patients receiving longer than six months of hormone treatment were twice as likely to die as patients who use the therapy for a shorter amount of time. "The reasons why patients receiving longer term hormone treatment may do worse are unclear," said Dr. Robinson, who also cautions, "Many factors could complicate the issue, and this area needs further investigation before any conclusions can be drawn".........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
November 5, 2006, 8:33 PM CT
Why Men With Prostate Cancer Avoid Radiation?
Negative perceptions about radiation treatment can strongly influence a prostate cancer patient's choice to avoid external beam radiation treatment, even though studies have proven the therapy to be as safe and effective as other therapys for the disease, including surgery, as per a research studypresented November 5, 2006, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's 48th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia.
"The study shows that patients base their therapy choice not only on technical information, but also on cultural and personal prejudices," said Riccardo Valdagni, M.D., an author of the study and head of the Prostate Programme at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori in Milan, Italy. "It's important for patients to express their fears about radiation therapy to their doctors and for doctors to consider these worries and address any misconceptions about this treatment so that patients can make the best, most informed decision about their therapy".
Men with prostate cancer often choose between external beam radiation treatment, radiation seed implants and surgery to treat their cancer. During external beam radiation, a beam of radiation, or X-ray, is directed through the skin to the cancer and the immediate surrounding area to kill the cancer. To minimize side effects, radiation is given five days a week for several weeks. A number of men with prostate cancer choose external beam radiation over other therapys because it is non-invasive, has a short recovery period and often helps men preserve their sexual and urinary function.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
September 25, 2006, 9:59 PM CT
Gene Therapy For Prostate Cancer
Scientists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) are hoping a new gene treatment that takes a gene called RTVP-1 directly into the prostate tumor will prove effective in preventing recurrence of the disease.
The first phase of the study is designed to test the safety of the therapy and determine the proper dosage of gene, said Dr. Dov Kadmon, professor of urology at BCM. It will be carried out in the department of urology at BCM as well as at Ben Taub General Hospital, The Methodist Hospital and Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
"We are treating patients who are scheduled for a prostatectomy (prostate removal) but who also have a high risk that their disease will recur (or come back)," said Kadmon. "The operation itself is highly successful in eradicating local tumors (in the prostate)".
The design of the study is simple, said Kadmon.
"One injection into the prostate that should take no more than 10 minutes, eventhough patients will be monitored in a special unit of the hospital for 23 hours to make sure there are no side effects. After that, they come to the unit for a check-up once a week".
After about 30 days, the subjects undergo their surgery, which has already been scheduled, he said. He said the hope is that the gene treatment will reduce the risk that cancer will recur at or near the site of the tumor as well as in distant points in the body.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
July 1, 2006, 9:56 AM CT
Pomegranate Juice Keeps PSA Levels Stable
Drinking an eight ounce glass of pomegranate juice daily increased by nearly four times the period during which PSA levels in men treated for prostate cancer remained stable, a three-year UCLA study has observed.
The study involved 50 men who had undergone surgery or radiation but quickly experienced increases in prostate-specific antigen or PSA, a biomarker that indicates the presence of cancer. UCLA scientists measured "doubling time," how long it takes for PSA levels to double, a signal that the cancer is progressing, said Dr. Allan Pantuck, an associate professor of urology, a Jonsson Cancer Center researcher and lead author of the study.
Doubling time is crucial in prostate cancer, Pantuck said, because patients who have short doubling times are more likely to die from their cancer. The average doubling time is about 15 months. In the UCLA study, Pantuck and his team observed increases in doubling times from 15 months to 54 months, an almost four-fold increase.
"That's a big increase. I was surprised when I saw such an improvement in PSA numbers," Pantuck said. "In older men 65 to 70 who have been treated for prostate cancer, we can give them pomegranate juice and it may be possible for them to outlive their risk of dying from their cancer. We're hoping we may be able to prevent or delay the need for other therapies commonly used in this population such as hormone therapy or chemotherapy, both of which bring with them harmful side effects".........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
June 19, 2006, 9:24 PM CT
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Posted by: Janet Permalink
March 30, 2006, 7:29 AM CT
Metabolites Responsible For Breast And Prostate Cancer
Cancer scientists have discovered that metabolites of natural estrogens can react with deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) to cause specific damage that initiates the series of events leading to breast, prostate and other human cancers. This understanding of a common mechanism of cancer initiation could result in cancer prevention and in better assessment of cancer risk.
The scientists will present their findings at the 81st annual meeting of the Southwestern and Rocky Mountain Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (SWARM-AAAS) on Friday, April 7, at the University of Tulsa, in Tulsa, Okla.
The symposium - "Catechol Estrogen Quinones as Initiators of Breast and other Human Cancers" - will be led by Drs. Ryszard Jankowiak of the Department of Chemistry, Kansas State University, and Ercole Cavalieri of the Eppley Cancer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center.
"We have a novel approach to cancer. We know the initiating step," said Dr. Cavalieri. "We think prevention of cancer is a problem we can solve by eliminating this initiating step. Estrogens can induce cancer when natural mechanisms of protection do not work properly in our body, and the estrogen quinones are able to react with DNA. In fact, if these protections are insufficient, due to genetic, lifestyle or environmental influences, then cancer can result.........
Posted by: Janet Permalink Source
March 23, 2006, 9:27 PM CT
Eat Salmon To Prevent Prostate Cancer
Everyone knows that eating fish rich in omega-3 fats may protect you from heart attacks. Now there is one more reason to eat fish rich in omega-3 fats. Recent research has shown that fish that contains good amounts of omega-3 fats may actually protect men from prostate cancer.
Omega-3 fatty acids together with omega-6 fatty acids are essential fatty acids that the body cannot synthesize. This has to be supplied from external sources and is shown to protect from heart attacks.
Rich sources of Omega-6 fats include vegetable oils, nuts and seeds. Omega 3 fats are found in oily fish such as salmon and mackerel.
This study led by Dr Mick Brown found while Omega-6 increased the spread of tumor cells into bone marrow, omega-3 blocked the spread.
"We only need about half as much omega-3 as omega-6 - that will still stop cancer cells from spreading," Dr Mick Brown said.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink
March 15, 2006, 6:25 AM CT
Jalapenos To Fight Prostate Cancer
Capsaicin, the stuff that turns up the heat in jalapeños, not only causes the tongue to burn, it also drives prostate cancer cells to kill themselves, as per studies reported in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research.
As per a team of scientists from the Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, in collaboration with colleagues from UCLA, the pepper component caused human prostate cancer cells to undergo programmed cell death or apoptosis.
Capsaicin induced approximately 80 percent of prostate cancer cells growing in mice to follow the molecular pathways leading to apoptosis. Prostate cancer tumors treated with capsaicin were about one-fifth the size of tumors in non-treated mice.
"Capsaicin had a profound anti-proliferative effect on human prostate cancer cells in culture," said Soren Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D., visiting scientist at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and the UCLA School of Medicine. "It also dramatically slowed the development of prostate tumors formed by those human cell lines grown in mouse models."
Lehmann estimated that the dose of pepper extract fed orally to the mice was equivalent to giving 400 milligrams of capsaicin three times a week to a 200 pound man, roughly equivalent to between three and eight fresh habañera peppers - depending on the pepper's capsaicin content. Habañeras are the highest rated pepper for capsaicin content as per the Scoville heat index. Habañero peppers, which are native to the Yucatan, typically contain up to 300,000 Scoville units. The more popular Jalapeño variety from Oaxaca, Mexico, and the southwest United States, contains 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
February 24, 2006, 10:02 PM CT
'Virus Chip' Detects New Virus In Prostate Tumors
UCSF and Cleveland Clinic scientists have discovered a new virus in human prostate tumors. The type of virus, closely related to viruses typically found in mice, has never been detected in humans. The virus's link to human disease is still unclear, and more study is needed to determine the relationship between the virus and cancer, if any, the scientists say.
The discovery was made with the same DNA-hunting "virus chip" used to confirm the identity of the SARS virus three years ago.
While the genetics of prostate cancer are complex, one of the first genes implicated in the disease was RNASEL, a gene that serves as an important defense against viruses. Given the anti-viral role of this gene, some scientists have speculated that a virus could be involved in some types of prostate cancers in men with mutated RNASEL genes.
In the new study, the researchers discovered the novel virus far more often in human prostate tumors with two copies of the RNASEL gene mutation than in those with at least one normal copy.
"This is a virus that has never been seen in humans before," said Eric Klein, MD, a collaborator in the research and head of urologic oncology at the Glickman Urologic Institute of Cleveland Clinic. "This is consistent with previous epidemiologic and genetic research that has suggested that prostate cancer may result from chronic inflammation, perhaps as a response to infection."........
Posted by: Mark Permalink Source
January 18, 2006, 7:46 PM CT
Turmeric And Cauliflower To Halt Prostate Cancer
Rutgers scientists have found that the curry spice turmeric holds real potential for the therapy and prevention of prostate cancer, especially when combined with certain vegetables.
The researchers tested turmeric, also known as curcumin, along with phenethyl isothiocyanate (PEITC), a naturally occurring substance especially abundant in a group of vegetables that includes watercress, cabbage, winter cress, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi and turnips. "The bottom line is that PEITC and curcumin, alone or in combination, demonstrate significant cancer-preventive qualities in laboratory mice, and the combination of PEITC and curcumin could be effective in treating established prostate cancers," said Ah-Ng Tony Kong, a professor of pharmaceutics at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey.
The discovery was announced in the Jan. 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research by Kong and colleagues at Rutgers' Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy.
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, with a half-million new cases appearing each year. The incidence and mortality of prostate cancer have not decreased in past decades despite tremendous efforts and resources devoted to therapy. This is because advanced prostate cancer cells are barely responsive even to high concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents or radiotherapy.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink
January 18, 2006, 0:21 AM CT
Controversy Over Prostate Cancer Screening
John Concato, M.D.
A screening test for prostate cancer that measures prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels does not improve survival, scientists at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Connecticut Healthcare System and Yale School of Medicine report in the January 9 Archives of Internal Medicine.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting American men and ranks second in mortality. According to the study, screening tests almost always increase the detection of cancer, but among other requirements for improving survival, the tumors detected must be both fatal (if left untreated) yet curable.
PSA, a protein produced in the prostate, is found in the blood of healthy men. Prostate cancer often increases PSA levels in the blood, but a similar increase can be caused by non-malignant enlargement of the prostate gland (prostatism) or prostate infections.
To test the impact of prostate cancer screening on survival, the scientists conducted a case-control review of the medical records of over 1,000 male veterans age 50 or older receiving care at 10 VA medical centers in New England. Half of the men had died with prostate cancer; the other half were living and matched to be the same age as those who died. The study included up to nine years of follow-up after the diagnosis of cancer. The scientists compared the group that died to the group that lived and found that the same fraction of men had received screening with the PSA test.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink
January 10, 2006, 6:20 PM CT
Obesity And Prostate Cancer
Obesity may make it harder to find prostate cancer, leading to delayed diagnosis and putting some men at an even greater risk for dying of the disease, according to a multi-university study led by a researcher from Duke University Medical Center and the Duke Prostate Center. As a result, the scientists are recommending that physicians be particularly thorough when examining obese men for prostate cancer.
The study showed that, up to a point, prostate gland size increases as body mass index (BMI) grows. BMI is a body fatness measurement based on weight adjusted for height. With larger prostate glands seen among obese men, doctors may be 20 percent to 25 percent less likely to identify prostate cancer when it is present, said Stephen Freedland, M.D., principal investigator and Assistant Professor in Duke's Department of Surgery-Urology. Freedland also holds an appointment in Surgery at the Durham VA Medical Center.
"Diagnosing prostate cancer is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack," Freedland said. "The bigger the haystack you have, the harder it is to find the needle, and in this case, we may be missing cancers in obese men".
Scientists published their findings in the February 2006 issue of the Journal of Urology.
Prostate cancer is the second most common type of cancer affecting men in the U.S., and a man has a one in six chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during his life, according to the Prostate Cancer Foundation. Obese men diagnosed with the disease are 20 percent to 35 percent more likely to die from it than a man of normal weight. Individuals are characterized as obese if they have a BMI greater than 30. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 30 percent of American adults are obese.........
Posted by: Mark Permalink
December 25, 2005, 10:32 AM CTMerry Christmas To All Our Readers
Medicineworld wishes all our readers merry Christmas.
Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh
Jingle bells, jingle bells
Jingle all the way
Oh, what fun it is to ride
In a one horse open sleigh........
Daniel Permalink
December 15, 2005New Model Of Prostate Cancer
Thomas J. Rosol
Scientists have developed a new line of prostate cancer cells that they hope will provide a better model to study the disease.
This new cancer-cell line has already provided some help. One new study in mice identified a promising possible treatment to reduce skeletal pain that accompanies prostate cancer. Researchers found that a substance called anti-nerve growth factor appeared to be more effective in controlling pain in mice than even morphine.
But the work would not have been possible without the new cell line, said Tom Rosol , a co-author of study and a professor of veterinary medicine at Ohio State University.
Armed with this new cell line, researchers will be able to more directly study how prostate cancer affects the body, said Rosol, whose laboratory developed the cell line.
Metastatic bone tumors are a common manifestation in patients with late-stage breast cancer or prostate cancer. "Metastasis" means that cancer has spread from its original site to other areas of the body. But breast cancer typically destroys bone at tumor sites, whereas prostate cancer tumors that spread to bone induce abnormal bone growth.
Currently, most models used to study prostate cancer do not mimic the human condition and the resulting bone metastases. Most of these models really mimic the spread of breast cancer since the bone metastases in that disease are associated with bone loss rather than bone growth.
"Even though there is more bone at the sites of prostate cancer tumors, this formation still damages the bone," said Rosol, who is also dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Ohio State . "The new growth compresses nerves, making it terribly painful for the patient".
The results appear in a January issue of the journal Cancer Research. The study was led by Patrick Mantyh, a professor of preventive sciences at the University of Minnesota.........
Mark Permalink
Live Webcast About Robotic Surgery (December 6, 2005)
