Researchers have successfully killed prostate cancer cells by targeting a protein that is critical for the cancer's spread.
The finding is significant because it would give doctors another tool to battle advanced prostate cancers that are resistant to hormone therapy.
Scientists at Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia killed cancer cells in the laboratory cell cultures and experimental animals by blocking Stat5, a protein that keeps the cancer cells healthy.
The researchers blocked the protein in a number of different ways, all of which were successful in killing the cancer cells.
The team was headed by Marja Nevalainen, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of Cancer Biology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University, determined that the Stat5 protein was "switched on" in nearly all recurrent prostate cancers.
More details at Science Daily or Thomas Jefferson University.
Showing posts with label treatment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label treatment. Show all posts
Monday, March 3, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
No single treatment preferred for prostate cancer
It comes as no surprise to many of us who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer that there is no single treatment accepted by the medical community as the best.
There's surgical removal, radiation, and hormone therapy. There's even watchful waiting, which is really no treatment at all but a way of monitoring the tumor for signs of growing.
A report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewed all the treatments and could not recommend one over the others because of a lack of research in prostate cancer.
When I researched what type of treatment I should undergo for protate cancer, I came to my conclusion partly based on the stage of the tumor. It's troubling that the actual reason that men have so many options is because there isn't the clinical data available for better treatment decisions.
"Information is really lacking to determine whether overall one treatment is more effective and preferred," Dr. Timothy Wilt of from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research is quoted.
The reason for this lack of data:
There's surgical removal, radiation, and hormone therapy. There's even watchful waiting, which is really no treatment at all but a way of monitoring the tumor for signs of growing.
A report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality reviewed all the treatments and could not recommend one over the others because of a lack of research in prostate cancer.
When I researched what type of treatment I should undergo for protate cancer, I came to my conclusion partly based on the stage of the tumor. It's troubling that the actual reason that men have so many options is because there isn't the clinical data available for better treatment decisions.
"Information is really lacking to determine whether overall one treatment is more effective and preferred," Dr. Timothy Wilt of from the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Center for Chronic Disease Outcomes Research is quoted.
The reason for this lack of data:
- Lack of financing
- Lack of advocacy
- Reluctance of men to participate in clinical trials
- A long time for tumors to turn deadly
The International Herald Tribune notes that US government spending on prostate cancer lags behind breast cancer research. The National Cancer Institute funded $305.6 million for prostate cancer compared to $551.1 million for breast cancer in 2007.
I'm not crying foul that prostate cancer is more deserving than breast cancer. They both should be adequately funded so men and women can both make the best choices about their cancer treatment.
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