Prostate Cancer

Flax, an annual plant believed to have originated in Egypt, is cultivated around internationally and is among the world’s oldest crops.

Vitamin E supplements, rather than reducing the risk of prostate cancer have been found to increase the risk of developing the disease. The findings are a 3-year follow-up to the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT).

Based on a review of prostate cancer treatment and screening trials, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) has stated that prostate-specific antigen (PSA)–based screening may not be necessary, saying that the potential benefits of the screening do not outweigh the potential harm of complications from evaluations and treatments.

Radium-223, an alpha particle given intravenously, has been shown to improve overall survival in men with castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), with a 30% risk reduction of death (HR = 0.695, P = 0.00185).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved two new indications for the osteoporosis drug denosumab, as a treatment for bone loss in men receiving androgen deprivation therapy for nonmetastatic prostate cancer and in women receiving adjuvant aromatase inhibitor therapy for breast cancer.

Cabozantinib (cabo), formerly known as XL184, has recently shown unprecedented activity against bone metastases in prostate cancer patients in a phase II trial.

Researchers have found that patients with early, localized prostate cancer benefit from short-term androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) for 4 months prior to and during radiotherapy, and that the addition of ADT increases overall survival and decreases mortality.

Scientists at the Center for Translational Pathology and the department of urology at the University of Michigan Medical School have developed a new noninvasive urine test for prostate cancer that may be able to stratify patients by risk.

Hoppe et al present an excellent review of the physics relevant to an understanding of proton therapy-and of the available literature assessing the use of proton beams in the management of prostate cancer.

Fifteen years from now, graduate business school students seeking a PhD in medical economics will write dissertations on the topic of proton therapy and its place in the health care reform efforts of the 2010s

This review discusses the rationale, history, and current status of proton therapy for prostate cancer-and controversies regarding it.

At the session on Management of Prostate Cancer in Older Adults: To Treat or not to Treat, Anthony D’Amico, William Dale, and Shabbir Alibhai all lent their clinical expertise in treating prostate cancer to outline the latest recommendations for screening and treating men for prostate cancer.

Abiraterone acetate has been shown to significantly acetate prolonged overall survival among patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) who previously received chemotherapy. The results of the Phase III study were published in the May 26, 2011 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Drs. Ruch and Hussain provide an excellent overview of the emerging therapeutic agents and targets for advanced prostate cancer.

The article by Ruch and Hussain provides a comprehensive overview of the progress that has been made in translating basic science findings in prostate cancer biology to clinical trials.

This article will present a detailed review of the body of evidence regarding the PSA assay, with reflections on the resulting future of prostate cancer screening.

This review will discuss recently FDA-approved agents for advanced prostate cancer and those under investigation in phase III trials.

A study published in the journal Cancer on May 9 has now specifically examined the outcome of cancer survivorship of the gay, lesbian, and bisexual population. The study authors found that cancer outcomes differ based on sexual orientation.

Prostate cancer screening using prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing has been a contentious subject.

The controversy surrounding PSA screening is one of the most heated in oncology. The potential benefits include prevention of prostate cancer morbidity and mortality, but the men potentially harmed through overdiagnosis and overtreatment outnumber those who benefit.

A large-scale, retrospective study published in the JNCI has now shown that men who take statins had lower incidence of total and high-grade prostate cancer compared with men who took antihypertensive medications.

On April 28, the FDA announced the approval of abiraterone acetate (Zytiga) in conjunction with a steroid, prednisone, as treatment for late-stage (metastatic) castration-resistant prostate cancer patients who have received prior docetaxel.

An analysis of data from 3,400 men in the large nationwide Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial indicates that, contrary to what might be expected, men with the highest blood percentages of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), an omega-3 fatty acid commonly found in fatty fish, had 2.5 times the risk of developing aggressive, high-grade prostate cancer, compared with men who had the lowest levels.

The question of whether men with low-risk prostate cancer should have their cancers vigilantly monitored is an ongoing issue for the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Panel on prostate cancer.

“Hallmarks of Cancer”, published in the journal Cell in 2000 provided a conceptual framework for the evolution of cancer as well as an all-encompassing review of the cancer field to date. The article is updated in the March 4th, 2011 issue of Cell.