Santa Cruz County  PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT GROUP Newsletter
February 2009

Howard Waage  ---- Editor

Where:   Our meeting will be in the Bennett & Suzy Katz Cancer Resource Center on the 1st Floor of the
                    two-story redwood Education Building behind Santa Cruz Dominican Hospital.

When:       Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 7:00 PM.  For more information: Please call-The Bennett
                     and Suzy Katz Cancer Resource Center at Dominican Hospital (831) 462-7770

Please feel free to contact any of the following steering committee members if you would like to volunteer or if you have any suggestions or questions. 

Joe Ferrara  426-7724    Frank and Janet Schmetz  438 4781   Bill McDermott 423-8350 Howard Waage 688-0423
                     Michael & Julie Batz   724-2701     Tim Ryan 476-6550       Ron Locey 214-4338 
                         Our website: http://www.scprostate.org          Webmaster: Paul Johnson

Prostate Cancer Web Sites

Powerful Search engines and Tools

Mailing Lists and Forums

Prostate Problems Mailing List (PPML) -- An unmoderated forum which discusses problems and treatments related to men's prostate gland. This is a broad-based, comprehensive forum with extremely knowledgeable participants. To subscribe, go to:  http://ppml-info.org

Physician To Patient -- The purpose of the p2p mailing list is to provide the prostate cancer patient or other interested parties with information from physicians about the treatment of prostate cancer. This is a moderated list without the high volume normally associated with mailing lists or the frequent off-topic questions. To subscribe, go to:
http://www.prostatepointers.org/mailman/listinfo/p2p

IMPORTANT: Every message sent to p2p must contain a Prostate Cancer Digest. Instructions for preparing your digest are in the first issue of PCRI Insights, which you can get in .pdf format here:
http://www.prostate-cancer.org/resource/insights.html

….PROSTATE CANCER IN THE NEWS..…

Improved PSA Tests a Better Gauge of Prostate Cancer Risk

January 20, 2009 - A prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test can’t diagnose prostate cancer, but results indicate the risk of cancer. According to the January issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter, recent fine-tuning of this test gives doctors better information to help determine cancer risk.

PSA is a substance produced in the prostate gland. Normally, a small amount of PSA enters the bloodstream. A higher amount or an abrupt rise in PSA levels can indicate a problem, possibly cancer. However, PSA results aren’t specific; that is, a high PSA indicates increased risk of cancer, but not the presence of cancer. Nor does the risk information indicate how quickly a potential cancer might be growing. Most prostate cancers are slow growing. For older men, a slow-growing cancer may not cause symptoms and may never need treatment.

While not perfect, annual PSA testing, along with a digital rectal exam, remains the best option to detect prostate cancer early. Ask your physician about these recent refinements in PSA testing:

PSA velocity: This charts the change in PSA levels over time. PSA levels tend to increase more quickly in men who have prostate cancer than those with other prostate conditions. For example, an enlarged prostate, a benign condition, also can be indicated by increased PSA levels. Velocity testing is a reason why annual or more frequent PSA measures are important, because it shows subtle changes that can lead to early intervention and better outcomes.

PSA doubling time: Similar to PSA velocity, this test looks at how quickly PSA levels double. The risk of prostate cancer is particularly acute when PSA levels double within 18 months.

PSA density: Using ultrasound imaging, the physician determines the size of the prostate gland. With this data, the physician can evaluate the PSA level based on the gland’s size. As larger prostate glands can produce more PSA.

Free versus total PSA: This test separates PSA in the bloodstream into two types. Bound or total PSA is attached to certain blood proteins, and free PSA isn’t. Prostate cancer is more likely to result from bound PSA. So, a lower percentage of free PSA compared to bound indicates an increased likelihood of cancer.
Source: Mayo Clinic and http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/548221

FDA Approves New Drug for Advanced Prostate Cancer

January 13, 2009 -The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved a new drug for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Degarelix, an injectable drug manufactured by Ferring Pharmaceuticals and still awaiting a trade name before it can hit the market, belongs to class of drugs known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) receptor antagonists. These drugs block the body’s production of testosterone, which slows prostate cancer growth.

Further, degarelix didn’t appear to cause the temporary surge in testosterone levels at the start of treatment, an effect commonly seen with other hormone therapies for prostate cancer known as GnRH agonists, including leuprolide.

Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels were also monitored during the trial. While PSA results are not always clear-cut, a high PSA level is usually a good indicator of the presence of prostate cancer. Patients receiving degarelix saw their PSA levels drop by an average of 64% 2 weeks after starting treatment, by 85% after 1 month, and by 95% after 3 months. PSA levels stayed low during the rest of the trial.

Commonly reported side effects included pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site; hot flashes; weight gain; fatigue; and increases in some liver enzyme levels. Once a trade name is green-lighted by the FDA, degarelix will be the only GnRH antagonist available in the United States. (A similar drug, abarelix, was withdrawn from the US market several years ago.) Degarelix is also awaiting approval overseas. Source: http://www.cancer.org

Measles vaccine may treat prostate cancer

ROCHESTER, Minn., Jan. 22 (UPI) -- Certain measles virus vaccine strain derivatives may prove an effective treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer, U.S. researchers said.

The findings, published in the journal The Prostate, show that this type of treatment, called virotherapy, can effectively infect, replicate in and kill prostate cancer cells.

"Based on our preclinical results as well as the safety of measles derivatives in clinical trials against other tumor types, these viral strains could represent excellent candidates for clinical testing against advanced prostate cancer, including androgen resistant tumors," the study's senior author, Dr. Evanthia Galanis of the Mayo Clinic, said in a statement.

Because primary tumor sites are easily accessible in prostate cancer, locally recurrent disease represents a promising target for virotherapy approaches. The virotherapy agent can easily be applied directly to the prostate tumor via ultrasound-guided needle injections and close monitoring of therapy can be achieved by non-invasive techniques including ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging, Galanis said.

The measles vaccine strains also have an excellent safety record with millions of vaccine doses having been safely administered in over 40 years of use, the researchers added.

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The Santa Cruz County Prostate Cancer Support Group does not endorse any provider, organization, product or individual.  All medical decisions should be made with the advice and consultation of medical professionals.