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Genitourinary Cancers

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BETHESDA, Md-Grants totaling $12.7 million have been awarded to five institutions for new research initiatives in breast and prostate cancer. The National Cancer Institute under its SPORE program (Specialized Program of Research Excellence) will fund the projects. The money will pay for the first year of the 5-year projects. Awards went to:

BOSTON-Short-term hormone therapy may benefit patients with localized intermediate- and high-risk prostate cancer, according to three retrospective studies presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting.

BOSTON-Combining long-term hormone therapy with radiation therapy for locally advanced prostate cancer significantly improves local progression, disease-free survival, freedom from distant metastasis, and biochemical control, according to results of a phase III clinical trial presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting.

Prostate Cancer Research

A second omnibus health-care bill-this one called the Public Health Improvement Act (H.R. 2498)-was passed quietly at the end of the 2000 session, with a prostate cancer section included. That section was originally a free-standing bill called

NEW YORK-To help support spouses of prostate cancer patients, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre, a prostate cancer survivor, and his wife Ali are helping to launch “Two Against One: Couples Battling Prostate Cancer.” This multimedia program helps spouses become more informed about prostate cancer and empowers them to advocate for improved outcomes for their husbands.

Researchers who conducted a large, randomized clinical trial across Europe, Great Britain, and Canada found that in order to improve safety and reduce toxicity, advanced bladder cancer patients can be treated with a combination of gemcitabine (Gemzar) and cisplatin (Platinol). This combination (known as GC) did not extend survival, but it was much less toxic than the currently used combination, MVAC (methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin [Adriamycin], and cisplatin).

BETHESDA, Md-In a pilot study, 10 of 19 patients with advanced renal cell cancer had a response to nonmye-loablative allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation, reported Richard Childs, MD, of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

ATLANTA-High-intensity, focused ultrasound (HIFU) delivered through a rectal probe was highly successful at burning away localized prostate cancer, Christian Chaussy, MD, reported at the American Urological Association 2000 Annual Meeting.

PHILADELPHIA-Evidence for the role of diet in the etiology of prostate cancer is mounting and with it, the possibility that nutritional factors can help prevent the disease, Demetrius Albanes, MD, said at the annual meeting of the Society of Nutritional Oncology Adjuvant Therapy. Dr. Albanes is a senior investigator with the Cancer Prevention Studies Branch of the National Cancer Institute.

NEW ORLEANS-In a phase II study, weekly docetaxel (Taxotere) significantly reduced bone pain and PSA levels in men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer, and these results led to enhanced quality of life. Lead investigator Tomasz Beer, MD, of Oregon Health Sciences University, reported the results at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

SAN FRANCISCO-A new study supports the hypothesis that calcium consumption is associated with a greater risk of prostate cancer. June M. Chan, ScD, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, presented the results at the 91st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

NEW YORK-A small trial of trastuzumab (Herceptin) alone and with paclitaxel (Taxol) found that the combination was active against prostate cancer, but trastuzumab alone was not. The results were presented at the ASCO meeting by Michael J. Morris, MD, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.