Promising New Trewatment for Prostate Cancer

[Kortpeel (imported)]

Hi All,

I dithered over whether or not to post this but then thought that as it interested me it would probably be of interest to other people here. The report doesn’t say so but it seems Abiraterone would be effective against secondary tumours in cases of advanced prostate cancer. It may also be of interest to guys who just want to try chemical castration.

From issue 2666 of New Scientist magazine, 23 July 2008, page 12:

An aggressive form of prostate cancer has been stymied by a drug that stops production of all male sex hormones. The hope is that it could keep the disease in check for years - today, many men die within 18 months of starting treatment.

Johann de Bono and colleagues at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, together with the UK Institute of Cancer Research and Cougar Biotechnology, a company in Los Angeles, this week announced results of a trial of the drug abiraterone in 21 prostate cancer patients for whom all other treatments had failed.

In eight men with measurable tumours, five shrank, while blood concentrations of prostate-specific antigen, which is produced by growing cancers, fell by at least 30 per cent in most men. "All the patients have cancer that had spread, and we saw the tumours shrink everywhere," says de Bono (Journal of Clinical Oncology, DOI: 10.1200/JCO.2007.15.9749). He adds that these findings were replicated in further trials in 250 people though the results are not yet published.

“These studies have confirmed in American men that this drug is spectacularly effective,” says de Bono.

Today, the only reliable therapy for prostate cancer is to "chemically castrate" men using drugs that stop the testes making testosterone. Yet in many cases, the tumours simply start making testosterone themselves.

Abiraterone dodges this problem by penetrating all cell types and disabling an enzyme vital for producing testosterone and other hormones that drive tumour growth. "The drug blocks the ability of cancers to make the 'fertiliser' for the cancer seeds to grow," says de Bono.

Abiraterone could be available in two years if a trial in 1200 people is successful.

Regards

Kortpeel.

[John Sheraton (imported)]

Kortpeel, good scholarship. These are the types of findings that could change the approach and success of cancer survival.

[John Sheraton (imported)]

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network, www.nccn.org reports Exisulinde has killed cancer cells in mice prediciting several years of testing before it can be tried on human beings. Though Abiraterone was not mentioned perhaps the site has not been updated, it would be wonderful to have a page full of useful drugs that would stop and kill the prostate cancer cells bypassing any radical or radiation treatments, leaving our lifestyles in tact.