Prostate Cancer
Green tea may reduce prostate cancer risk
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Drinking green tea may reduce the risk of advanced prostate cancer, according to a study by researchers at Japan’s National Cancer Center.
According to the report, men who drank five or more cups a day might halve the risk of developing advanced prostate cancer compared with those who drank less than one cup a day.
Association of C-peptide concentration with prostate cancer incidence in a prospective cohort
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While studies have consistently shown that men with diabetes are at a decreased risk for prostate cancer, the reasons have been unclear. By evaluating prostate cancer data from a large, long-term cohort study, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have shown that those with high concentrations of C-peptide – a marker of high insulin secretion that is a hallmark of diabetes – had a measurable decrease in prostate cancer risk.
“Metabolic perturbations influence cancer risk, that much is becoming clear to us, and we are learning more about the fundamental issues in biology that guide prostate cancer development,” said Gabriel Lai, a doctoral student in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “One interesting possibility is that, over time, diabetics generally have less testosterone in their bloodstream than non-diabetics, which might lower risk of prostate cancer.”
Obesity Associated With Lower PSA Levels in Men With Prostate Cancer
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Higher body mass index (BMI) is associated with higher plasma volume, which may be related to lower prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels among obese men, according to a study in the November 21 issue of JAMA.
Recent evidence has suggested that prostate cancer screening may be adversely affected by increased BMI. The ability to accurately detect prostate cancer can be compromised by any factor that decreases PSA concentration in the circulation, according to background information in the article. Several studies have found that obese men have lower PSA concentrations than non-obese men. “However, men with higher BMIs also have larger plasma volumes, which could decrease serum concentrations of soluble tumor markers—a phenomenon known as hemodilution,” the authors write.
Prostate cancer therapy may increase diabetes risk
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New research suggests that a hormone therapy, commonly used to treat prostate cancer, called androgen-deprivation therapy may increase the risk of diabetes, particularly in obese men.
Androgen-deprivation therapy involves the use of medications or surgery to reduce body levels of testosterone, a hormone that is known to increase the growth of prostate cancer cells.
Cholesterol drug may improve prostate cancer
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Treatment with statins, a widely used class of cholesterol-lowering drugs, which include Lipitor, Crestor and Zocor, is associated with a longer rate of relapse-free survival after radiotherapy for prostate cancer, particularly among patients with more aggressive cancers, researchers reported here at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).
Dr. Michael J. Zelefsky of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and colleagues reviewed data for 871 men with prostate adenocarcinomas treated between January 1995 and July 2000.
Leading researchers to reveal comprehensive dos and don’ts for prostate cancer
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Today at the Prostate Cancer Foundation’s Annual Scientific Retreat, researchers will share new findings on how eating common foods such as tomatoes and fish, maintaining a healthy weight, and avoiding meats cooked at high temperatures may help prevent prostate cancer, and help men live healthier and longer after diagnosis. One in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, and an estimated 218,890 cases will occur in The United States this year.
Since the 1980s, researchers have hypothesized that nutrition choices could be connected to prostate cancer. Today, those ideas are being substantiated by more widespread studies, in combination with newer technologies in gene research.
Surgery offers best survival for prostate cancer
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Removal of the prostate gland, a surgical procedure also known as “prostatectomy,” offers longer survival rates than radiation therapy, careful monitoring, or hormone therapy for men with “localized” prostate cancer, a common form of the disease in which the cancer has not yet spread to other organs, new research shows.
“We observed that prostatectomy was associated with the best long term prognosis—in particular, for younger patients and patients with (aggressive) tumors,” senior author Dr. Christine Bouchardy, from Geneva University, Switzerland, told Reuters Health. “We are not very surprised that prostatectomy offers the best chance of cure at long term, but we should wait for results from (clinical) trials to confirm this.”
AstraZeneca drug extends prostate cancer survival
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Patients with advanced prostate cancer given AstraZeneca’s experimental pill ZD4054 live around seven months longer than those on placebo, according to results of a clinical trial presented on Tuesday.
But the drug - which some analysts think could be a blockbuster - failed to show an improvement in progression-free survival, a measure of how long patients survive before their condition worsens.
Asian men more likely to survive prostate cancer
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In a study of prostate cancer patients living in California, most Asian men with the disease survived longer than their white counterparts. The exception was men from South Asia; their survival was worse than that of white men.
In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Anthony S. Robbins, from the California Cancer Registry in Sacramento, said that few studies have compared prostate cancer risk factors and survival between Asians and whites. He added that “there are zero that looked at Koreans, Vietnamese, and South Asians.”
Marker of aggressive prostate cancer identified
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Researchers at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, have identified a protein “biomarker” of aggressive prostate cancer. The protein, known as B7-H3, plays a role in the functioning of the immune system.
Based on their studies to date, Dr. Timothy J. Roth and associates believe that B7-H3 is a promising marker that may eventually help doctors better diagnose prostate cancer and assess prognosis. It may also represent a good target for new prostate cancer drugs.
Prostate Cancer Survival is Dependent on Season of Diagnosis
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A report in the September 2007 issue of The Prostate by Dr. Lagunova and associates from Norway and Oregon suggests that men diagnosed with prostate cancer (CaP) in the summer and autumn seasons have better survival.
The work was based upon the knowledge that racial and environmental factors affect CaP rates and prognosis. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to higher CaP mortality. The authors hypothesized that calcidiol levels are higher during summer and autumn and thus may impact CaP incidence and outcome.
Obesity predicts prostate cancer recurrence
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Obese men have an increased risk of prostate cancer recurrence and death after they have completed radiation therapy, according to results of a study published in the medical journal BJU International.
Obesity is known to predict prostate cancer progression in men who undergo radical prostatectomy, or complete surgical removal of the prostate gland, Dr. David Palma and colleagues from the British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, Canada, pointed out.
Prostate cancer pamphlets may encourage screening
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Providing easy-to-read educational handouts to men can encourage discussion about prostate cancer and increase screening for elevated levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a standard test used to detect an increased risk of prostate cancer, new research suggests. But, the use of these educational materials does not make men more inclined to undergo rectal examination, which can also detect cancer.
Physicians are advised to discuss prostate cancer with their patients so that they can make informed decisions about screening, note Dr. Sunil Kripalani, from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues. However, “few studies have tested strategies to encourage such discussions.”
Prostate drug doesn’t limit sexual function in most men
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Men and their physicians need not hesitate to use a drug proven effective in preventing prostate cancer out of concern that it is likely to cause sexual dysfunction, say authors of a study conducted by the Southwest Oncology Group.
The authors, who surveyed more than 17,000 men 55 and older for seven years, reported their results in the July 4 Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The study found that men given finasteride reported on average more dysfunction than did men given a placebo. That small effect diminished over the seven years.
New test pinpoints deadliest prostate cancers
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Scientists have found a new way to identify a particularly deadly form of prostate cancer in a breakthrough that could save tens of thousands of men from undergoing unnecessary surgery each year.
In contrast to many cancers, only certain prostate tumors require treatment. Many are slow-growing and pose little threat to health. But separating the “tigers” from the “pussycats”—as oncologists dub them—is tricky.
