Patients can safely delay a radical prostatectomy for up to 180 days after diagnosis of high-risk prostate cancer, according to results of a study now published in JAMA Network Open. Using the US National Cancer Database (NCDB), the researchers collected data on 32,184 patients with clinically localized high-risk prostate adenocarcinoma who were diagnosed between the years 2006 and 2016 and who underwent a radical prostatectomy. Patients were categorized into 5 groups according to surgical delay...

Because prostate cancer cases are often localized and controlled, men can survive many years after diagnosis. However, that is not the case for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC): after diagnosis, less than a third of men survive five years. In the treatment of prostate cancer, hormone therapy is commonly used to suppress androgen receptors in order to prevent testosterone from being produced, thereby killing the malignant tumor. Unfortunately, this does not work for mCRPC. ...

In a recent study, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was found to be a potential precursor to prostate cancer. A twenty-year analysis of 1,033 men with IBD and 9,306 healthy men showed that those with IBD had a higher incidence rate of developing prostate cancer than those without IBD. IBD, which includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, is a common ailment in the US, afflicting approximately 1.6 million people, 1 million of them being men. The study, published in European Urology, found t...

The ability to know whether prostate cancer will stay local or spread to the bone or distant organs is crucial in regard to deciding which treatment to pursue: conservative management or more aggressive therapy. Copy number alterations (CNAs)—mutations that delete or repeat large sections of DNA—are the key to determining cancer prognosis. Investigators have invented new, cost-effective technology, called the Next-Generation Copy Number Alteration, to detect CNAs and potentially aid in prostate ...

Understanding how a healthy cell turns into a malignant one has been a challenge for scientists. Researchers at Charité - Universitätsmedizin in Berlin may have come close to solving this enigma. In a study published in Cancer Cell, the researchers analyzed the tumor genomes of 300 prostate cancer patients by examining each molecular profile, sequencing encoded material within the cells' genetic substance, documenting chemical variations to the genetic code, and assessing the activity of specifi...

Most often, men diagnosed with prostate cancer have a low risk of progression (LRP). However, some men have intermediate or high risk of progression (IHRP). Physicians tend to overtreat or undertreat patients because they do not have a reliable way to accurately determine the risk of progression. A new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings has provided a potential solution to this dilemma. "We have discovered new molecular markers that can help guide men in their decisions about the course ...

The most accurate prostate progression prediction technology to date has been developed by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Existing methods of prostate cancer detection include multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System Version 2, a five-point scoring scale that categorizes tumors found on the multiparametric MRI. Because they are subject...

After a successful initial response to prostate cancer treatment targeting the androgen receptor, some patients develop neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC), which is the deadliest subtype of castration-resistant prostate cancer and does not have an effective treatment. In a new study, researchers from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) found that protein kinase C lambda/iota (PKCλ/ι) causes metabolic reprogramming that creates favorable conditions for NEPC to grow. Th...

Researchers discovered that the transcription factor protein Engrailed-2 (EN2), which forms boundaries and guides neurons in development, also plays a role in cancer: tumors secrete EN2, which is then taken up by the surrounding normal cells, preventing immune invasion. Lead researcher Richard Morgan, PhD, Professor of Molecular Oncology at the University of Bradford, remarked, "For tumors to survive, grow bigger, and spread, they need to control the behavior of cancer cells and the normal cells...

There is "strong evidence" as classified by the World Cancer Research Fund that obesity is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. In order to investigate this further, researchers objectively measured body fat distribution of men and their risk of developing prostate cancer. For this study, called the Age, Gene/Environment Susceptibility-Reykjavik study, results of which were published in Cancer, 1,832 men went through baseline computed tomography (CT) imaging of fat deposition, b...