Tomato-Broccoli Combo May Protect Against Prostate Cancer

Broccoli and tomato – two vegetables known to help fight cancer – are more effective against prostate cancer if they’re eaten together as part of a daily diet than if they’re eaten alone, a new study with rats suggests.

University of Illinois researchers fed a diet containing 10 percent broccoli powder and 10 percent tomato powder to a group of rats that had been implanted with prostate cancer cells. Other groups of rats received either tomato powder or broccoli powder alone; a supplemental dose of lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes believed to be an anti-cancer agent); or finasteride, a drug prescribed for men with enlarged prostates. Another group of rats was castrated.

After 22 weeks, the researchers found that the combined tomato/broccoli diet was the most effective at prostate tumor reduction. Of the other treatments, castration was the only one that came close to being as effective.

“When tomatoes and broccoli are eaten together, we see an additive effect. We think it’s because different bioactive compounds in each food work on different anti-cancer pathways,” study co-author John Erdman, a professor of food science and human nutrition, said in a prepared statement.

“Older men with slow-growing prostate cancer who have chosen watchful waiting over chemotherapy and radiation should seriously consider altering their diets to included more tomatoes and broccoli,” added study co-author and doctoral candidate Kirstie Canene-Adams.

“To get these effects, men should consume daily 1.4 cups of raw broccoli and 2.5 cups of fresh tomato, or 1 cup of tomato sauce, or 1/2 cup of tomato paste. I think it’s very doable for a man to eat a cup and a half of broccoli per day or to put broccoli on a pizza with 1/2 cup of tomato paste,” Canene-Adams said.

No Link Between Virus in the Prostate and Risk for Prostate Cancer

According to an article recently published in the British Journal of Cancer, there does not appear to be an association between the presence of viruses in the prostate and the risk for subsequent prostate cancer among men.

Along with skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed form of cancer among males in the United States. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that is located between the bladder and the rectum. It is responsible for forming a part of semen.

Orinigal article here

Aging gene also protects against prostate cancer development

Cancer researchers have found that a gene that is involved in regulating aging also blocks prostate cancer cell growth. They have shown that the enzyme SIRT1 can block the growth of treatment-resistant prostate cancer cells that overexpress a mutation for the androgen receptor. The scientists hope the newly found connection will aid in better understanding the development of prostate cancer and lead to new drugs against the disease.

SIRT1 is a member of a family of enzymes called sirtuins that have far-reaching influence in all organisms, including roles in metabolism, gene expression and aging.

“We know that sirtuins play a role in aging, and that the risk for prostate cancer increases with aging, but no one has ever linked the two until now,” says Dr. Pestell, who is also professor and chair of cancer biology at Jefferson Medical College.

“We’ve shown that by making a prostate cancer with cells overexpressing a mutation for the androgen receptor, which is resistant to current forms of therapy, we can almost completely block the growth of these cells with SIRT1,” he says. Dr. Pestell and his team report their findings in November in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology.

According to Dr. Pestell, prostate cancer cells can express a mutation that makes patients resistant to current forms of treatment such as hormonal therapy. Such therapy focuses on inactivating the androgen receptor by giving agents that shut off testosterone production.

In one experiment, the scientists took a series of mutations in androgen receptors from prostate cancer patients who are resistant to hormonal therapy and showed that SIRT1 blocks receptor activity, halting cancer growth. “We systematically tested each androgen receptor mutation,” Dr. Pestell explains. “These mutant receptors are resistant to current therapies and are all blocked by expression of SIRT1,” adding that prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels were used to confirm this. Rising PSA levels are frequently an indication of prostate cancer growth or recurrence, whereas falling levels indicate tumor shrinkage.

“This study shows that there is potentially new opportunity for these cancer patients with drugs that regulate SIRT1,” Dr. Pestell says.

“The discovery is a true breakthrough in our field,” says Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D., George Hoyt Whipple Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and professor of urology and of biochemistry at the University of Rochester.

Dr. Pestell and his co-workers also found a single amino acid within the androgen receptor that reacts with SIRT1’s enzymatic activity and proved in the laboratory that it was key to its cancer-halting effect. The work could lead to a model for drug screening, Dr. Pestell notes.

Green Tea Supplement Prevents Prostate Cancer in High-Risk Men

Green Tea Supplement Prevents Prostate Cancer in High-Risk Men

A supplement containing antioxidants from green tea was 90 percent effective in preventing prostate cancer in men at high risk for the disease.

There are many benefits to drinking green tea, but you’ll need to drink 12 cups a day to get the amount of catechins consumed in the study.

That’s the conclusion of an Italian study that found after a year of taking green tea catechins, only one man in a group of 32 who were at higher risk of prostate cancer actually developed the disease, while nine men in a group of 30 high-risk men who took a placebo developed prostate cancer.

‘To our knowledge, this is the first study showing that green tea catechins (GTC) have potent chemoprevention activity for human prostate cancer,’ said study author Saverio Bettuzzi, an associate professor of biochemistry in the School of Medicine at the University of Parma in Italy.

Findings from the study were presented April 20 at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, in Anaheim, Calif.

Other than skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men. More than 230,000 American men are diagnosed with this disease each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Since many prostate cancers are found in their early stages, about 99 percent of those diagnosed can expect to live at least five years, while up to 92 percent survive for at least 10 years after their diagnosis. However, prostate cancer can be deadly. The disease claims the lives of more than 30,000 men in the United States annually, making it the second largest cancer killer in men.

Bettuzzi explained that while other studies, including his own previous work, had shown that green tea could inhibit prostate cancer cell growth in laboratory models, the researchers wanted to know if it would work in humans.

They recruited 62 men at high risk of developing prostate cancer because they already had precancerous lesions, which often turn into cancer within a year.

The men were between the ages of 45 and 75. The researchers excluded vegetarians because they may already have a lower risk of developing prostate cancer, men who already consumed green tea, and men taking antioxidant supplements or hormone therapy.

Thirty two of the men were asked to take a 200-milligram pill containing green tea catechins three times daily for a year; the other 30 men were given a placebo.

Biopsies were conducted at six months, and then again a year later.

Remarkably, only one man in the treatment group was diagnosed with prostate cancer, while nine men in the control group developed the disease.

‘A projection of our data suggests that up to 90 percent of chemoprevention efficacy could be obtained by GTC administration in men prone to developing prostate cancer such as the elderly, African-Americans and those with a family history of prostate cancer,’ Bettuzzi said.

He said to consume an amount equivalent to that used in the study, you would have to drink 12 to 15 cups of tea daily, and that while supplements are commercially available, their quality cannot be assured and they may contain caffeine, or more alarmingly, pesticides or other contaminants.

Bettuzzi also said his findings would be confirmed in a larger study.

More information

For more information on tea’s potential cancer prevention abilities, search the Young Again Site for numerous articles and studies on green tea.

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All the above is written for educational purposes only. What you decide to do for your health is strictly your business. Whatever you do, look into all the options carefully and remember that natural remedies my provide you with safe alternatives.

A protoxin that kills prostate cancer

Scientists have found a way of using a protein made by prostate cancer to target and kill the cancer cells themselves. In preliminary studies the new therapy affected only the prostate, without causing damage to other healthy tissues, and now it is being tested in a phase I clinical trial.

Sam Denmeade, associate professor of oncology at John Hopkins University, USA, reported to the EORTC-NCI-AACR2 Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Prague that he and his team3 had developed a protoxin, named PRX302, by modifying an inactive molecule, proaerolysin (PA). They engineered PRX302 to be activated by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) – a protein made in higher than normal levels by prostate cancer. Once activated, they hoped that it would target and kill prostate cancer cells specifically.

He explained: “This represents a different kind of ‘targeted’ therapy, in that it seeks to use a protein made by the cancer to destroy itself.”

Prostate cancer risk reduced by fatty fish consumption

Men who eat just one serving of salmon per week reduce their risk of developing prostate cancer by 43 percent, compared to men who do not consume fish, according to new research published in the online edition of the International Journal of Cancer.

Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm examined the dietary habits of nearly 1,500 men with prostate cancer and more than 1,100 men without the disease. They found that men who ate fatty fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, at least once a week reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 43 percent, whereas men who did not eat fish of any kind experienced no risk reduction.

Fatty fish consumption slashes risk of prostate cancer by 43 percent

High-Dose Radiation Extends Prostate Cancer Survival

Men with prostate cancer who choose radiation therapy should consider high-dose radiation, because it appears to limit the spread of the cancer, U.S. researchers report.Another study finds that long-term hormone treatment after surgery or radiation might extend patient survival.

Both studies were conducted by researchers at the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and were slated for presentation Monday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, also in Philadelphia.

In the first study, researchers found that higher doses of 74 to 82 Gray (Gy — a measurement of radiation) significantly reduce the risk that the cancer will spread, even 8 to 10 years after treatment.

That’s important, because “the single greatest cause of death from prostate cancer is from distant metastasis,” explained lead researcher Dr. Peter Morgan, a resident in the Radiation Oncology Department at Fox Chase. “Also, the greatest detriment in quality of life for prostate cancer patients comes from the symptoms of distant metastasis or the side effects of treatment with hormones,” he added.

Cancers that appear five or more years after surgery or radiation are mostly due to cancer cells that were not killed during initial treatment, Morgan explained. “However, when we treat men with high-dose radiation, the latent wave of distant metastasis at eight to 10 years after treatment is reduced,” he said.

In the study of 667 men with prostate cancer, Morgan’s team found that over 10 years, the rate of the cancer spreading outside of the prostate was 16 percent for radiation doses less than 74 Gy, 7 percent for 74-75.9 Gy, and only 3 percent for doses greater than 76 Gy.

“If men choose radiation treatment for their prostate cancer, they should seek out a treatment center that will treat them with the higher doses of radiation,” Morgan advised. “It’s important for prostate cancer patients to ask and be aware of the dose of radiation they are going to get,” he said.

One expert believes the study will help patients choose the radiation therapy that’s best for them.

“This study helps clarify what radiation dose should be achieved,” said Dr. Durado Brooks, the director of prostate and colorectal cancers at the American Cancer Society. “This helps establish a clear target of a dose that radiation oncologists need to achieve in order to help men have the most positive outcomes,” he added.

Brooks is concerned about potential side effects of high-dose radiation, however. “Do these men at five years or 10 years have higher rates of erectile difficulty or higher rates of bowel or urinary problems?” he asked. “Quantifying that is important so men can make an informed decision,” he added.

However, another expert said the findings are at odds with the results of prior randomized trials comparing high- and low-dose radiation.

“Randomized trials, so far, have not shown a benefit in distant disease-free survival. They have only shown a benefit in PSA recurrence,” said Dr. Anthony D’Amico, the chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston. PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, is the standard blood marker for tests aimed at gauging prostate cancer risk.

“The results of randomized trials will be the bottom line of whether distant metastases are prevented or not,” D’Amico added.

In the second study, another team of Fox Chase researchers found that long-term hormone therapy after radiation treatment increased survival of men with locally advanced cancer.

In the study, 1,554 men with locally advanced prostate cancer received approximately four months of hormone therapy before and during their radiation treatments. After radiation treatment, some patients were given an additional 24 months of hormone therapy, while others received no further hormone therapy.

“At 10 years, the men receiving an additional 24 months of hormones showed significant benefit over those not taking additional hormone therapy,” Dr. Gerald E. Hanks, the retired chairman of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, said in a prepared statement.

In fact, 45 percent of men with aggressive cancers who received the additional hormone therapy survived for 10 years, compared with 31.9 percent of the men who didn’t get long-term hormone therapy.

Brooks noted that the best use of hormone therapy is not known and that recommendations for the length of therapy are inconsistent.

“I don’t know if the findings of this study will lead all men to be recommended that they use the long-term hormone therapy, but I would say for men with aggressive prostate cancer, this makes a very strong argument that this should be considered the standard of care. And all men should be encouraged to consider this,” he said.

However, the Fox Chase findings were contradicted by another study on hormone therapy released Sunday at the ASTRO meeting.

In that trial, a team at the Cleveland Clinic reviewed outcomes for 579 men treated for high-risk prostate cancer from 1996 to 2003. Patients received either more than six months of androgen-deprivation (hormone) therapy, less than six months of the therapy, or no hormonal treatment.

The researchers found that giving shorter-term therapy did improve patient survival, but that treatments lasting more than six months conferred no added benefit. “Treating current patients with shorter-term hormone therapy may not only be equally effective, but also improve their quality of life, due to a lesser degree of treatment side effects,” radiation oncologist and study lead researcher Dr. Cliff Robinson said in a prepared statement.

D’Amico agreed that long-term hormonal therapy can have serious side effects, such as an increase in the risk of heart disease. “We need to find out if long-term hormonal therapy, while decreasing cancer deaths, is increasing some other potential cause of death,” he said.

For more on prostate cancer: U.S. National Cancer Institute.

Study Eyes PSA Tests for Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is more likely to be life-threatening if the man’s PSA level rose rapidly during the years before he was diagnosed, says a new study that may help change how PSA tests are used.

The finding could help doctors diagnose aggressive cancers earlier, when they might be easier to fight.

Perhaps more important, it suggests a more in-depth evaluation of the common blood tests could better predict who needs aggressive treatment and who has a slower-growing tumor that may be OK to monitor instead.

“This is a test that doesn’t just diagnose prostate cancer. It diagnoses prostate cancer that’s going to actually cause harm,” said Dr. H. Ballentine Carter, urology chief at Johns Hopkins University, who led the research published Tuesday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

The study is far from proof that making health decisions based on so-called PSA velocity can really save lives.

But Carter contends the findings suggest that men should consider getting a baseline PSA test around age 40, instead of the more usual 50, to use as a comparison for future changes.

PSA tests are used to screen men for prostate cancer, but they’re imprecise. Too much PSA, or prostate-specific antigen, in a man’s blood can indicate that he has either a benign enlarged prostate or cancer. Only a biopsy can tell the difference.

It’s not even clear when is the best time to do a biopsy. Some men have cancer despite a “normal” PSA count of 4 or below. Yet routinely biopsying men with low PSA would worsen another problem, overdiagnosis. Many specialists say too many men today are undergoing side effect-prone treatment for tumors too small and slow-growing to ever threaten their lives.

Two years ago, Boston researchers reported that men whose PSA levels jumped more than 2 points the year before diagnosis were more likely to relapse and die despite prostate surgery. But those were men whose PSA levels were already fairly high.

Hopkins’ Carter wondered if doctors could catch such men far sooner, when the cancer might be more treatable.

He turned to a study of aging that has been collecting and freezing blood samples from participants since 1958. The Hopkins team tracked PSA changes in that blood from 980 men, 20 of whom eventually died of prostate cancer and 104 of whom survived it.

How fast a man’s PSA was rising a decade before his cancer was diagnosed _ even before it reached that biopsy-triggering level of 4 _ predicted his survival 25 years later, regardless of his ultimate cancer treatment, Carter concluded.

Those with a higher PSA velocity _ the level rose more than a count of 0.35 a year _ had a 54 percent survival rate, while those whose PSA rose more slowly had a 92 percent survival rate.

What does that mean for men today? That it’s a good idea to order a biopsy for a man with a low but fast-rising PSA, Carter said. And men diagnosed with prostate cancer whose PSA is rising slowly may be ideal candidates for monitoring instead of surgery or other treatment, he added.

A study with just 20 deaths is far too small to prove the value of PSA velocity, cautioned Dr. Durado Brooks, a prostate specialist with the American Cancer Society.

Still, growing numbers of doctors are using the method already to help decide when to order a biopsy, and “I think the study does raise the question as to whether PSA velocity may at some point be a helpful factor in determining prognosis,” he said.

The work is “another step on the road to more sophisticated” prostate cancer screening and treatment, Dr. Timothy Church of the University of Minnesota wrote in an editorial accompanying the work.

Some 234,000 U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and just over 27,000 of them will die, the cancer society estimates.

Study links cholesterol to prostate cancer

Scientists have discovered the first direct evidence suggesting that high cholesterol levels could be a cause of prostate cancer.

Earlier studies showed that cholesterol-lowering drugs, prescribed to reduce the risk of heart disease, also cut rates of prostate cancer.

But the mechanism of the effect was not clear and study findings had been inconclusive. It was thought that statins might interfere with the growth of the tumour once it was established rather than preventing it from developing.

Now a new study of almost 1300 men with prostate cancer conducted by Italian researchers has found they were 50 per cent more likely to have had high cholesterol levels than a similar number of men without the cancer. Both groups were matched for age and state of health.

No relationship was observed between the cancer and 10 other medical conditions, suggesting the link with cholesterol is a real one.

Cancer charities welcomed the finding, published online in Annals of Oncology, and said it emphasised the importance of eating a healthy diet.

Chris Hiley, head of policy and research at the Prostate Cancer Charity said: "This is very interesting research which may help to explain why prostate cancer is common in the westernised, developed world.

"It also suggests that if men make lifestyle changes and adopt a healthy, low cholesterol diet it might reduce their risk of prostate cancer. Further research is needed to confirm this, but in the meantime the health benefits of a varied diet are indisputable."

The research team, from the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri in Milan, based their findings on data from 1991 and 2002 involving 1,294 men aged 75 and under with prostate cancer.

They found the association between the cancer and high cholesterol levels was strongest in men diagnosed with the disease before the age of 50 or after the age of 65.

Dr Francesca Bravi, lead author of the study, added: "We also found that prostate cancer patients were 26 per cent more likely to have suffered from gallstones than our controls, with an apparently higher relationship in thinner men."

"Although that figure was not statistically significant, gallstones are often related to high cholesterol levels."

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Seeks Men for Prostate Trial of ‘Watchful Waiting’

Sometimes no treatment is the right option for low-risk prostate cancer these physicians say

Controversy seems to continue on treatment for prostate cancer

The subject of prostate cancer is a hot topic with senior citizens, since about two-thirds of all prostate cancers are found in men age 65 or older. It is also the number one cancer killer of men. What to do about prostate cancer, however, is controversial, according to the National Cancer Institute. Just last month research was released saying older men with early stage prostate cancer survive longer if they are treated, versus not being treated in the "watchful waiting" approach advocated by many physicians. Today, the noted M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is not giving up on "watchful waiting" and is looking for volunteers for further clinical trials.When Houston restaurateur Tony Masraff was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, his life was packed with dancing, running marathons, playing tennis, gardening, leading a successful business and spending time with his family. But it wasn't until his doctor at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center advised "watchful waiting" as an option to invasive surgery and radiation that he realized he could continue his active life – free of treatment side effects, but with the cancer.

Masraff is one of about 200 men diagnosed with low-risk prostate cancer at M. D. Anderson on active surveillance for their disease, having changes monitored through regular Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) tests, biopsies and check-ups. He also is one of hundreds of thousands of men nationwide who have had their prostate cancer detected by regular PSA tests at such an early stage that managing low-risk disease through surveillance outweighs the risks and possible side effects of treatments.

Now, a new study at M. D. Anderson will follow low-risk patients eligible for watchful waiting to determine if they can avoid or postpone therapy and related side effects, and still live as long as patients who immediately receive invasive therapy. The study will provide key information for the future development of clinical guidelines for watchful waiting.

"With the advent of the PSA test, we see prostate cancer detected much earlier but there is no evidence that early detection means longer survival. Because of the sensitivity of the test, clinically insignificant tumors sometimes are over-diagnosed and patients may, as a consequence, be over-treated with radiation and surgery," said Jeri Kim, M.D., principal investigator of the study and assistant professor in the Department of Genitourinary Medical Oncology at M. D. Anderson.

The study will enroll 650 prostate cancer patients who have been clinically defined either as low risk, or patients with localized prostate cancer who have refused early intervention, or patients with localized cancer who are precluded from therapy due to other serious health conditions. Patients who have had previous treatment for their prostate cancer are not eligible to participate.

Patients will have a biopsy at the beginning of the study to confirm the diagnosis of localized prostate cancer followed by PSA tests and digital rectal exams every six months. The need for additional biopsies will be determined at the end of the first year of surveillance, and participants on the study will be given a transrectal ultrasonography annually to detect any possible changes.

Patients also will be asked to complete a survey on their general health conditions as well as six other short surveys which will be used to monitor diet and behavior as part of related research.

Prostate cancer is one of only a few cancers that can be latent in the body for some time and not require immediate treatment," said Dr. Kim. "Many researchers have documented over the years that men die with their disease rather than from it, and while we need to intervene early, we also need to intervene appropriately with respect to the stage of disease, the man's age, his health in general and quality of life."

The most notable trend in prostate cancer treatment from 1986 to 1999, according to NCI, was the decreasing proportion of cases that received watchful waiting, surgical or chemical castration, or hormonal deprivation therapy as primary treatment. More aggressive treatments, including newer radiation techniques, were found to be on the rise. However, black men were found to receive substantially less aggressive treatment than white men.

Tony Masraff, now 68 years old, preaches "watchful waiting" to men diagnosed with early prostate cancer and has yet to regret not having a more invasive therapy to rid him of the cancer. He is diligent, however, in keeping his appointments and follow-up tests.

"I decided my quality of life was worth more than having a tumor taken out or radiated," said Masraff. "I don't worry about my prostate cancer. I really don't have time to worry about it."

For more information on the watchful waiting study for men with early-stage prostate cancer, call (713) 563-1602.