Prostate Cancer

Although one in nine men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis in his lifetime, cutting-edge research has allowed more men to live longer or even be cured. Statistics show that one in nine men will receive a prostate cancer diagnosis during his lifetime, making it the most common cancer among men after skin cancer. But thanks to the work being done at institutions like City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in California, more men are being cured each year, and those who aren’t cured are living longer. One such program that sheds light on this cause is City of Hope’s NoShaver November. The month-long fundraising and awareness campaign urges participants to forego shaving to start a conversation, encourage testing and raise critical funds to continue leading-edge prostate cancer research and promising new therapies conducted at City of Hope.  CURE ® recently spoke with Dr.  Tanya Dorff , a medical oncologist at City of Hope who specializes in prostate cancer, about the...

A new study led by Fred Hutch researchers has found that black men with low-risk prostate cancer can practice active surveillance just like their white counterparts. Stock photo by Getty Images Black men diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer can practice active surveillance just like their white counterparts instead of heading straight into surgery or radiation, a new study has determined. The finding, recently published in the Journal of Urology , comes from a large research collaboration known as the Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study, or Canary PASS , led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “I think this is good news for African American men,” said Dr. Daniel Lin , principal investigator of the Canary PASS cohort, the large patient registry that has fueled the decade-long prostate cancer initiative. Canary PASS funding was just extended for another five years. Read more here . “There have been some conflicting reports as to whether it’s safe to use a...

colorful fruits and vegetables Diets consisting of high plant-based intake are associated with a reduced risk of prostate cancer, while diets high in dairy are associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association . The researchers conducted a literature of Ovid Medline, PubMed, and Embase for English-language publications from 2006 to February 2017, yielding 47 articles that were eligible for inclusion. There were two very large cohort studies (≥100,000 participants), six large cohort studies (≥40,000 participants), 11 medium cohort studies (≥10,000 participants), 10 small cohort studies (<10,000 participants), 13 case-control studies, four meta-analyses, and one population study investigating diet and prostate cancer risk. Dairy intake increases prostate cancer risk Most studies showed that plant-based foods are associated with either a decreased or unchanged risk of prostate cancer, wh...

EAU 2019: The Urologist’s Perspective on Active Surveillance Presented by Roderick van den Bergh, MD Barcelona, Spain (UroToday.com) Dr. van den Bergh presented on the current and future role of active surveillance in prostate cancer. Approximately 350 studies on active surveillance have been published per year in the last 5 years. This therapeutic strategy has been incorporated into all major urological guidelines Read More ESOU 2019: Risk Stratification for Active Surveillance Presented by Nicolas Mottet, MD, Ph.D Prague, Czech Republic (UroToday.com) It is good news for both patients and physicians that there has been wider adoption of appropriate utilization of active surveillance (AS) among patients with prostate cancer. Dr. Nicolas Mottet presented risk stratification for active surveillance. Read More CUOS 2019: Active Surveillance: Long-Term Data - We Continue to Learn Presented by Laurence Klotz, MD, FRCSC Toronto, Ontario (UroToday.com) Dr. Laure...

A number of biotech stocks have made major moves over the past week. One of those was Myovant Sciences ( NYSE:MYOV ) , a $1.1 billion biopharma company, which had its shares more than double on Nov. 19 following  impressive clinical trial results in treating early, androgen-sensitive prostate cancer. With hundreds of thousands of new prostate cancer patients diagnosed in the U.S. alone, there's plenty of potential for Myovant to hit a financial home run if its drug receives U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. At the same time, this drug is well-positioned to become a leading treatment option for women with uterine fibroids. Let's take a more detailed look at the company's recent results and the strength of its flagship drug candidate. Image source: Getty Images. Understanding the prostate cancer market Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of death in men, with around 174,000 patients in the U.S. diagnosed with the disease each year. While many drugs...

Science Photo Library - ROGER HARRIS | Brand X Pictures | Getty Images Cancer patients have a higher risk of dying from heart disease and stroke, with 10% of all cancer patients dying from cardiovascular problems, not cancer, according to a new study published in the European Heart Journal. For some cancers, including breast, prostate, endometrial and thyroid cancer, the risk is even higher. Roughly half of those patients die from cardiovascular disease, according to a team of researchers led by the Penn State College of Medicine. The researchers looked at the U.S. general population compared with 3.2 million U.S. patients who had been diagnosed with cancer between 1973 and 2012. Among the cancer patients, 38% died from cancer and 11% died from cardiovascular diseases, including heart disease, high blood pressure, cerebrovascular disease, blocked arteries and damage to the aorta. Of those who died from cardiovascular diseases, 76% were due to heart disease. The researchers ...

It’s the end of Movember and No-Shave November is upon us. Whether your facial hair has become a true work of art or you’re looking forward to shooting a silver bullet into your werewolf-ian scruff, we hope you’ve used the time — and any attention you may have drawn to yourself — to raise awareness of men’s health issues . It’s a time to sit with friends and family and have those conversations that make us squirm. Speaking of things that make many of us uncomfortable: Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men . There was a time when a man hit a certain age — usually around 55 years old — and his doctor would tell him it was time to get a Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) test. If there was a history of prostate cancer in your family, your doctor may have recommended starting the test as early as your 40s. The test would be administered annually and measured the amount of PSA in the blood. For a generation of men, getting the test was practically a rite of pass...

Prostate cancer incidence in older adolescent and young adult men has increased in most countries, but the cause for the rise is uncertain, according to a new study published online September 25 in the journal Cancer . "Men as young as 17 years are experiencing an increasing incidence of carcinoma of the prostate in much of the world," write an international team of authors, led by Archie Bleyer, MD, Oregon Health and Science University's Knight Cancer Institute in Portland. They report that the incidence of prostate cancer has increased in all groups between ages 15 and 40 years and increased globally at a steady rate averaging 2% per year since 1990 ( P < .01). However, prostate cancer is rare in young men, with incidence rates not rising above about 0.2 cases per 100,000 men until age 35 and being even lower at younger ages, per US data from the last two decades; notably, the rate spikes dramatically between ages 35 and 39, approaching 1.8 cases. However, at...

Professor Samer Ezziddin. Credit: Thorsten Mohr Prostate cancer accounts for 26 percent of male cancer cases diagnosed in Germany, making it the most common form of malignant tumor in men. If the cancer becomes metastatic, it is not unlikely that it will prove fatal in the generally elderly patients. Scientists and doctors at Saarland University Hospital recently conducted a clinical trial in which they established the effectiveness of a therapeutic method that is successful in controlling late-stage prostate tumors and their metastases without causing serious side effects. The novel element in their approach involves combining two radioactive substances that are able to destroy the tumor cells by very precisely irradiating them at very short (millimeter or micrometer) range. As a result, a patient's life expectancy can be extended without any substantial impairment in quality of life. The pilot study, which was led by nuclear radiologist Professor Samer Ezziddin, has been p...

John Shin Consumption of high amounts of dairy products appeared to be associated with increased risk for prostate cancer, according to results of a retrospective study published in The Journal of the American Osteopathic Association. Eating high amounts of plant-based foods, however, may reduce prostate cancer risk, researchers found. “The mechanism for the link between dairy and prostate cancer is not certain, but one hypothesis has to do with calcitriol, the hormonal form of vitamin D,” John Shin, MD, oncologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told HemOnc Today . “It has been shown that calcitriol inhibits prostate cancer cell growth and that increased calcium intake lowers levels of calcitriol in the body. Because dairy products are rich in calcium and serve as the primary source of calcium for many people in Western countries, it stands to reason that dairy might be linked to prostate cancer risk in this way.” Shin added that there is probably more than one reason...

Prostate cancer researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have received a five-year, $6.7 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to support the infrastructure and ongoing growth of the multicenter Canary Prostate Active Surveillance Study , or PASS. PASS was established in 2008 with funding from the Canary Foundation , a nonprofit that focuses on early detection, particularly in prostate, pancreatic, ovarian, breast and lung cancers. The PASS cohort, or group of patients under study, provides data and tissue samples from more than 2,100 patients with early-stage prostate cancer. Researchers use the data to better distinguish between low-risk and aggressive prostate cancers, develop biomarkers that can help with early detection, reduce overtreatment and more. The principal investigator of PASS is Dr. Daniel Lin , director of the Hutch and UW Medicine’s Institute for Prostate Cancer Research . Fred Hutch is the study’s data management and coordinating center. ...

EAU 2019: The Urologist’s Perspective on Active Surveillance Presented by Roderick van den Bergh, MD Barcelona, Spain (UroToday.com) Dr. van den Bergh presented on the current and future role of active surveillance in prostate cancer. Approximately 350 studies on active surveillance have been published per year in the last 5 years. This therapeutic strategy has been incorporated into all major urological guidelines Read More ESOU 2019: Risk Stratification for Active Surveillance Presented by Nicolas Mottet, MD, Ph.D Prague, Czech Republic (UroToday.com) It is good news for both patients and physicians that there has been wider adoption of appropriate utilization of active surveillance (AS) among patients with prostate cancer. Dr. Nicolas Mottet presented risk stratification for active surveillance. Read More CUOS 2019: Active Surveillance: Long-Term Data - We Continue to Learn Presented by Laurence Klotz, MD, FRCSC Toronto, Ontario (UroToday.com) Dr. Laure...

Prostate cancer affects around one in eight men in the UK, but tends to be more common in men over the age of 65. Because there’s currently no cure for cancer, understanding what could potentially cause it can help prevent it. Doctors don’t yet known the exact reasons why some men develop prostate cancer, but a number of risk factors have been associated with the disease. Bupa explains: “Prostate cancer can run in families. Certain genes, such as one called BRCA2, can put people at higher risk. “So, if you have a close relative with prostate cancer, such as a brother or father, you’re more likely to develop it. “Men who eat a lot of high-fat foods may be more likely to develop prostate cancer too. READ MORE:  How to live longer: Best diet to increase life expectancy - how many calories to eat “You’re also more likely to develop prostate cancer if you’re black or over 50.” Recent studies have suggested links between sleep and prostate cancer risk, with one study asso...

November 19th, 2019 Xconomy San Francisco —  A drug candidate once shelved by Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TAK ) has found new life within Roivant Sciences spinout Myovant as a potential once-daily oral hormone therapy for patients with advanced prostate cancer. The Brisbane, CA-based biotech company (MYSE: MYOV ) reported Tuesday that the drug, relugolix, met the primary goal of a Phase 3 trial, lowering levels of testosterone to what’s known as “castrate levels” through 48 weeks for 96.7 percent of those receiving the investigational medicine. The threshold needed to support an FDA review was 90 percent. Myovant’s stock price rose 113 percent following the news to $12.92 per share, up from $6.06 apiece as of market close Monday. In some forms of cancer, hormones fuel tumor growth, and reducing levels of male hormones can make prostate cancers shrink or slow for a time. Relugolix is part of a group of drugs that target gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and by doin...

Myovant announced that its Phase III HERO trial relugolix met its primary endpoint and six key secondary endpoints in advanced prostate cancer. The company expects to use the data for a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second quarter of 2020 and future submissions in Europe and Japan. Myovant is one of the five Vant companies under Vivek Ramaswamy’s Roivant Sciences that was part of the $3 billion deal with Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. Earlier this month, Roivant agreed to sell ownership of five its Vant companies to Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma. Relugolix is a once-daily, oral gonadotropin-release hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonist that decreases testicular testosterone production. Testosterone is primarily responsible for stimulating prostate cancer. In analysis of the responders, 96.7% of men receiving relugolix achieved sustained testosterone suppression to castrate levels. The company defined “responder” as achieving and maintainin...

Military veterans are twice as likely as their civilian counterparts to develop prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer deaths in men in the United States. Although medical experts say they don’t know exactly why this is the case, two leading organizations that deal with prostate cancer are joining forces to focus on the health threat for veterans. An organization called “ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer” recently announced a partnership with Veterans Prostate Cancer Awareness to spread the message and improve care for patients who have served in the military. “With ZERO and VPCA now formally working together, veterans will be able to access an even larger network of support, resources and community,” Patrice Brown, a ZERO official, said in a statement. Mike Crosby, a Navy veteran and prostate cancer survivor who founded VPCA, said he was glad for the partnership between the two groups. Our “goal of reaching every veteran to provide them with the educational resourc...

The most common form of cancer that afflicts men in the UK is prostate cancer. Since no cure has been found yet, it is vital you know the risks associated with the development of the disease. Several studies have revealed your sleeping habits may increase prostate cancer risk. Official estimates state that in the UK, about one in every eight men is afflicted with prostate cancer. Among them, the disease commonly affects those who are aged 65 or more. Due to the absence of a cure, it is important to understand what causes its development, as well as its risk factors, to help prevent it. Medical professionals admit they do not know the exact cause of prostate cancer. Several risk factors, however, have been linked to the development of the disease. Prostate Cancer Risk Factors According to the health site Bupa, prostate cancer tends to be hereditary. Some genes, like the BRCA2, can increase the risk of its development. Bupa stated that if you have a close relative, like a father or ...