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New urine-based test looks at 18 genes and was specifically developed to pick out those cancers that need immediate treatment over the slow-growing type. Researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center have developed a new urine-based test that addresses a major problem in prostate cancer: how to separate the slow-growing form of the disease unlikely to cause harm from more aggressive cancer that needs immediate treatment. The test, called MyProstateScore2.0, or MPS2, looks at 18 different genes linked to high-grade prostate cancer. In multiple tests using urine and tissue samples from men with prostate cancer, it successfully identified...

The largest study to date investigating a single invitation to a PSA blood test to screen for prostate cancer has found it had a small impact on reducing deaths, but also led to overdiagnosis and missed early detection of some aggressive cancers. The CAP trial, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and carried out by researchers from the universities of Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge, involved over 400,000 men aged 50-69. Just under half received a single invitation for a PSA test as part of the trial. After following up for 15 years, there was a small...

MRI of the prostate, combined with a blood test, can help determine if a prostate lesion is clinically significant cancer, research suggests A new meta-analysis suggests doctors and patients can avoid unnecessary prostate biopsies by combining MRI of the prostate findings with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) density. To doctors, clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) is prostate cancer that has a high chance of threatening a patient's life. MRI of the prostate can provide some of this information. Still, a biopsy is traditionally needed to determine how aggressive the cancer cells look. This study tested a new approach: combining MRI-based prostate imaging...

King Charles has been diagnosed with a form of cancer, says Buckingham Palace. It is not prostate cancer, but was discovered during his recent treatment for an enlarged prostate. The type of cancer has not been revealed, but according to a palace statement the King began "regular treatments" on Monday. Buckingham Palace says the King "remains wholly positive about his treatment and looks forward to returning to full public duty as soon as possible".

A team of researchers have found a new therapeutic strategy for patients with a specific subtype of metastatic prostate cancer resistant to standard chemotherapy treatment with docetaxel. In this study, they propose a new treatment based on a combination of kinase inhibitors in patients who inevitably stop responding to docetaxel. The team found that resistance to this drug is associated with the hyperactivation of the cellular pathways PI3K/AKT and MEK/ERK and have explored the possibility of inhibiting these pathways as a new therapeutic strategy in patients who maintain the function of PTEN, a negative regulatory protein of the PI3K/AKT pathway....

Combining testosterone-blocking drugs in patients with prostate cancer relapse prevents the spread of cancer better than treatment with a single drug, a multi-institution, Phase 3 clinical trial led by researchers has found. The approach can extend the time between debilitating drug treatments without prolonging the time it takes to recover from each treatment. Prostate cancer is usually treated with one of several testosterone-lowering drugs for a set period of time. "This adds to a growing body of evidence in favor of more intensive testosterone-blocking therapy in patients with higher-risk prostate cancer," said Rahul Aggarwal, MD. The new study focused on...

Researchers have identified a receptor protein known as CHRM1 as a key player in prostate cancer cells' resistance to docetaxel, a commonly-used chemotherapy drug to treat advanced cancer that has spread beyond the prostate. The discovery opens the door to new treatment strategies that could overcome this resistance. The study showed that blocking CHRM1 in resistant prostate cancer cell lines and an animal model based on patient-derived resistant tissue restored docetaxel's ability to kill cells and stop tumor growth. The researchers did this by using dicyclomine, a drug that selectively inhibits CHRM1 activity. Dicyclomine is already on the market as...

The Today Show suffered an awkward blunder on Monday as it's closed captions said King Charles was set to undergo 'prostitute surgery'. The highly-watched US morning show, which airs on NBC, was reporting on the king's recent surgery for an enlarged prostate. But instead of reporting about the medical procedure, the caption read the king was to have 'prostitute surgery'. The blunder was spotted by Below Deck and the Traitors US star Kate Chastain who uploaded it to Instagram and joked 'I bet AI is in charge of closed captions for the Today Show'. Last week the royal was diagnosed...

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was recently diagnosed and is being treated for prostate cancer. He is one of the nearly 290,000 American men who will be diagnosed with the condition this year. Nearly all types of cancer have become less deadly over the last 30 years, with one notable exception: advanced-stage prostate cancer, according to a recent report from the American Cancer Society (ACS). “We have had more men diagnosed with more advanced prostate cancer over the last decade,” Dr. Sam S. Chang, the Chief Surgical Officer at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center, told The Epoch Times in an...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December and underwent a minimally invasive procedure to treat and cure it, according to a statement from Walter Reed National Military Center officials on Tuesday. "Secretary Austin recovered uneventfully from his surgery and returned home the next morning. [snipped out section quoting officials saying his prognosis is excellent] Austin was then admitted to Walter Reed on Jan. 1 "with complications from the December 22 procedure, including nausea with severe abdominal, hip, and leg pain," the officials said.

Scientists wanted to investigate the anti-cancer properties of carnosine against cells derived from both primary and metastatic prostate cancer. Carnosine, which can be produced by the body and is also found in meat, has long been advocated for use as an antioxidant to facilitate healthy aging. There have been reports of carnosine being effective against the development of a number of different cancers but this is the first time it has been studied in relation to prostate cancer. The researchers found that carnosine stopped the cells from multiplying and at higher doses even killed cancer from both primary and metastatic...

Bone scans have been found to overstage prostate cancer at initial staging compared to prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET, according to new research. The significant false-positive rate of metastases on bone scans means that definitive therapy for local disease may have been withheld from patients inappropriately. PSMA PET is more accurate than CT and bone scans for staging patients with prostate cancer and, in recent years, has become the standard imaging modality at initial staging. Nearly all prostate cancer trials have used CT and bone scans for staging, however, and the best way to apply those data to patients staged...

Recent studies indicate that inflammation is one of the causes of the development of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Inflammation may result from past infections, metabolic disorders, but also from the state of functioning of the intestinal microbiota. In this new study, researchers aimed to assess whether the diagnostic lipid parameters for metabolic syndrome and short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are related to the immunoexpression of interleukins in prostate tissue with benign hyperplasia. The study involved 103 men with BPH, who were divided into two groups depending on the presence of MetS. "We analyzed tissue immunoexpression of two proinflammatory interleukins: IL-6, which...

I am a 250-lb, 6-foot, 65 year-old Freeper from southern Ohio. I have been on 80 mg FloMax since summer and I don't like it. And it doesn't seem to work that well. I have seen that there are several different surgical options. I would appreciate anyone who could share their experience and/or advice. Thanks.

A study suggests metformin is a drug that could prevent the progression of prostate cancer, but only for tumors with low levels of NKX3.1, which are more likely to develop into aggressive cancers. The researchers found metformin restores cancer-fighting mitochondrial activity that is lost when NKX3.1 levels are low, prevents prostate cancer progression in mice, and is associated with better survival in patients with low-NKX3.1 tumors but not high-NKX3.1 tumors. Papachristodoulou found that when prostate cells are under oxidative stress (as happens during prostate cancer development), NKX3.1 moves into the cells' mitochrondria to reduce stress and protect the cells. If...

Men with high-grade prostate cancer and low prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels have a poor prognosis. The question remains as to whether the chemotherapy drug docetaxel, which increases survival in metastatic prostate cancer, can improve the cure rate in these patients. In a new study by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, a meta-analysis of five prospective randomized clinical trials (RCTs) found that adding docetaxel to standard-of-care (SOC) treatment was associated with a 70% reduction in death from prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM). Investigators performed a meta-analysis of the RCTs evaluating SOC treatment with radiotherapy and androgen deprivation therapy or with radical...

Minimally invasive transperineal laser ablation (TPLA) of the prostate appears effective for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), according to a review. Lazaros Tzelves and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to examine the safety and efficacy of TPLA for BPH. Based on 11 included studies, the researchers found that functional outcomes were improved in the majority of studies both for objective (maximum flow rate and postvoid residual) and subjective outcomes (improvement of International Prostate Symptom Score and quality of life). Complications included hematuria (range: 1.9 to 2.3 percent), dysuria (3.7 to 36.3 percent), acute urinary retention (1.9 to 19 percent), orchitis/urinary...

Having dedicated more than three decades of his career to the field of urology focused on prostate cancer, Professor Christopher Cheng was aware of the sobering possibility that he may eventually succumb to the very same disease he knows well as a specialist. In 2017, the urologist and trailblazer in the use of robots for surgery found himself on the other side of the treatment room after becoming a patient himself. He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and underwent treatment. However, the disease recurred. In an interview with TODAY, Prof Cheng, who completed radiation therapy in December 2021 for...

Patients with localized prostate cancer have a good chance of survival, but mortality rates among those with advanced, metastatic forms of the condition remain high. Until now, the precise mechanism behind the spread of the tumor has not been fully explained. But a research team has succeeded in decoding the underlying cellular signal pathway and has carried out research using a common diabetes medication that could provide a new treatment option. The research team examined prostate cancer cells and identified the key factors in the regulation of tumor cell growth and the way they interact with each other. The protein...

In elderly patients with suspected prostate cancer, a prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (PSMA PET) CT scan can diagnose advanced disease and aid in therapy selection without the need for a biopsy. This research demonstrates how imaging with PSMA PET/CT can potentially reduce the number of prostate biopsies in the elderly while providing accurate staging data. 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT has gained acceptance as a highly sensitive and specific imaging modality for evaluating the extent of disease in prostate cancer patients. In general, PSMA PET/CT is indicated when intermediate or high-risk cancer has been found on biopsy. In elderly patients, however,...