Prostate Cancer

Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have shown that by blocking a signaling protein, they can prevent prostate cancer cells from metastatic dissemination. The work opens the door to future studies examining the protein as a target for therapies aimed at keeping prostate cancer at bay.

The benefits of eating right and staying active may extend well beyond your physique, all the way down to your genes, Bay Area scientists have found. Men with low-risk prostate cancer were able to change the activity of genes that affect tumor growth with diet and exercise, which could potentially reduce the risk of the cancer progressing. "So often people say, 'It's all in my genes, what can I do?' Well, it turns out we can do a lot, and faster than we thought," said Dean Ornish of UC San Francisco, lead author of the study.

BALTIMORE -- Men whose tumors recur after prostate cancer surgery are three times more likely to survive their disease long term if they undergo radiotherapy within two years of the recurrence. Surprisingly, survival benefits were best in men whose new tumors were growing fastest, according to results of a "look-back" study of 635 men by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions researchers reported June 18 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

New cancer research from the University of Missouri suggests that eating a certain form of tomato product could be the key to unlocking the prostate cancer-fighting potential of the tomato. The positive effect of tomato products has been suggested in many studies, but, until now, researchers did not know exactly what caused this effect. "It appears that the greatest protective effect from tomatoes comes from rehydrating tomato powder into tomato paste," said Valeri Mossine, research assistant professor of biochemistry in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.

Poniard Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology, today presented preliminary safety and efficacy data from its ongoing Phase 2 clinical trial of picoplatin in combination with docetaxel and prednisone, the standard of care for the first-line treatment of metastatic hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC). Results demonstrated that picoplatin can be safely administered with full doses of docetaxel. In addition, the prostate specific antigen (PSA) response rate was 69 percent in 26 patients evaluable for PSA.

Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have shown that by blocking a signaling protein, they can prevent prostate cancer cells from metastatic dissemination. The work opens the door to future studies examining the protein as a target for therapies aimed at keeping prostate cancer at bay.

LYON, France -- EDAP TMS SA, the global leader in therapeutic ultrasound, announced today that the British Journal of Urology (May 2008) published a systemic and comprehensive literature review of the outcomes of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) as a treatment for prostate cancer. The purpose of this review, which was conducted by The French Association of Urology, was to define the patients for which HIFU should be offered. A total of 37 published medical journal articles were selected for review, along with several abstracts recently presented at major medical conferences.

Endocare, Inc., an innovative medical device company providing minimally invasive technologies for tissue and tumor ablation, announced that a group of the nation's leading academic institutions are collaborating on an 800-patient, multi-center, prospective study of the effectiveness of cryoablation on men whose prostate cancer has recurred after radiation therapy. The study, called SCORE (Salvage Cryotherapy Registry Evaluation) is being led by E.

Bavarian Nordic's subsidiary, BN ImmunoTherapeutics has initiated Phase I/II clinical studies with its therapeutic vaccine candidate against prostate cancer. A Phase I/II safety and tolerability study in 18 male patients with non-metastatic as well as hormone-insensitive prostate cancer has begun enrolment in the US. Secondary objectives of the trial include examining the ability of the vaccine to induce prostate antigen-specific immune responses, as well as clinical anti-tumour activity. Preliminary data is expected during second half year 2009.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Compendia Bioscience, Inc., the leading provider of cancer profiling data and analysis tools, today announced the central role of their flagship product Oncomine(TM) in the discovery and identification of SPINK1 as a key new therapeutic target and biomarker for prostate cancer. Oncomine is a rapidly growing compendium of nearly 26,000 gene expression and DNA copy number arrays coupled with analysis functions and a web application for data mining and visualization.