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, March 31st, 2009 7:00 PM. For more information: Please call-The Bennett
and Suzy Katz Cancer Resource Center at Dominican Hospital (831) 462-7770
Meeting Topic: We’ll be discussing the latest news in prostate cancer nutrition as well as what vitamin supplements are claimed to be beneficial. Tim Ryan will be facilitating the meeting
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
February 09, 2009 - Washington, D.C. - American Institute for Cancer Research By: Karen Collins, MS, RD, CDN Many people were hoping the long-awaited results of two major cancer prevention studies would deliver important news about stopping the spread of prostate cancer.- But to the health community’s dismay, researchers delivered a “no effect” verdict in December 2008 when the data were published in the online edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. In light of National Cancer Prevention Month, it seems like an especially good time to take stock of where we are in the fight against this widespread disease.
SELECT (Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial) was a large clinical trial that provided supplements of the mineral selenium (200 micrograms (mcg) daily) and vitamin E (400 International Units (IU)) to more than 35,000 men aged 50 and older. Researchers hoped that people taking one or both of these supplements would show lower risk of prostate cancer compared to those receiving a placebo pill. Unfortunately, when the supplements showed no signs of reducing prostate cancer and raised some concerns about possible health risks, the trial was stopped early.
The Physicians’ Health Study II is another trial that looked at factors affecting prostate and total cancer risk. Researchers watched more than 14,000 men age 50-plus for about eight years to see if supplements of vitamin E (400 IU every other day) or vitamin C (500 milligrams (mg) daily) could provide protection. In the end, neither supplement had any effect on prostate or total cancer risk.
While these results are disappointing, it won’t end research on these supplements. Scientists are asking questions about whether changing the chemical form of the nutrients, the dose, or the age at which supplementation begins could bring about different results.
Meanwhile, although evidence is far from certain, emerging research suggests that some vegetables may help lower prostate cancer risk. Broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables yield natural compounds called isothiocyanates that stimulate enzymes that detoxify carcinogens. Research now shows that these compounds also support tumor suppressor genes that help our body catch and eliminate damaged cells that could become cancerous.
Tomatoes supply a compound called lycopene, a cousin to beta-carotene and a powerful antioxidant. Research now suggests that this compound may promote control of cell growth and stimulate self-destruction of abnormal cells. Although lycopene is available in a variety of supplements, these sources may not be as effective as when we get it from food. Part of that difference may reflect interaction of lycopene with other compounds in tomatoes and in other foods such as broccoli and soy.
Garlic is also identified as a food that may play a possible role in reducing prostate cancer risk according to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review. Several compounds in garlic offer antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and specific anti-cancer- effects. Laboratory studies show that these compounds can slow later stages of prostate cancer development, too. But we need more human data. Other foods might help prevent prostate cancer, too, including green tea, flaxseed, soy and perhaps other beans. These are nutritious foods, but the link to lower prostate cancer risk is not established. And avoiding excessive amounts of milk or high doses of calcium (more than 1500 mg daily) is suggested because of possible links to increased prostate cancer risk.
As a result of the recent findings, some experts believe that efforts to identify specific nutrients or compounds for supplementation may be better spent elsewhere, focusing on healthy dietary patterns and lifestyle habits for example. Source: http://www.infozine.com/news/stories/op/storiesView/sid/33839
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Jan 29, 2009 - A diet low in saturated fat, high in vegetable protein and low in animal protein, including dairy products, is associated with a "substantial" increase in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) doubling time and an increase in quality of life, according to results of a pilot study.
PSA is used as a biological marker for prostate cancer; the higher this number gets, the greater is the man's risk of prostate cancer or prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate). The PSA "doubling time" is the time it takes for PSA levels to increase by 100 percent. The study subjects included 36 men with biopsy-confirmed prostate cancer who had received primary treatment for more than 6 months previously and who had increasing PSA levels.
Dr. James Carmody and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester randomly assigned the subjects and their partners to attend 11 dietary and cooking classes and mindfulness practice to support the change in diet or to a control group. Assessments of dietary compliance, quality of life and PSA levels were made at the beginning of the study, after the 11-week intervention, and again 3 months after the intervention was assessed. The findings are published in the journal Urology.
The intervention group consumed significantly less saturated fat, more vegetable protein and less animal protein, including dairy products, than did the controls. They also reported more indicators of increased quality of life compared with the controls.
"Although no significant change was found in the rate of PSA increase between the two groups, the mean PSA doubling time for the intervention group was substantially longer at the 3-month follow-up visit than that of the controls," Dr. Carmody and colleagues report. "Future clinical trials should examine the effect of a similar diet on clinical disease markers of disease progression with a larger sample of men followed for a substantially longer period." SOURCE: Urology, December 2008. http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE50T01020090130
ScienceDaily (Feb. 9, 2009) — Scientists at Melbourne's Burnet Institute have developed a potential new treatment for patients with prostate cancer. An article, which described the invention, has recently been published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Head of the Burnet Institute's Cancer Immunotherapy Laboratory, Associate Professor Pei Xiang Xing said his group has produced a monoclonal antibody to a unique tumour marker for the treatment of prostate cancer. The monoclonal antibody is directed at cancer-producing cells carrying the specific molecule known as PIM-1, which is responsible for cell survival, proliferation and differentiation. Over-expression of PIM-1 plays a critical role in the development, progression and metastasis of prostate cancer and other cancers such as leukaemia. The monoclonal antibody significantly inhibited cancer cell growth when used in laboratory models of prostate cancer.
Professor Xing's group demonstrated that the monoclonal antibody binds to PIM-1 present in cancer cells and creates a chain of events leading to the death of the cells. In particular, the therapeutic effect was improved by combination of the antibody with other drugs currently used to treat prostate cancer.
Prostate cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed invasive cancers and the third leading cause of death in men worldwide. A new strategy to treat prostate cancer is urgently needed as there is no efficient method to treat advanced prostate cancer.
Director of the Burnet Institute, Professor Brendan Crabb said that while the therapy was still in its early days this was the first time that researchers had found a treatment that targeted prostate cancer cells with a specific antibody to PIM-1 and which resulted in the death of the malignant cells and a reduction in tumour size. "This is an exciting step in the development of new treatments for patients with prostate cancer with very promising laboratory-test results," Professor Crabb said.
While further laboratory research is still required to refine the treatment, it is expected that clinical trials of the new therapy will commence in the near future. Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090206101607.htm
(Reuters Health) - Jan 27, 2008– The majority of men with early-stage. low- or moderate-grade prostate cancer die from causes other than prostate cancer, researchers report in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society. Therefore, prevention and management of other health conditions is important in these patients.
"Once a diagnosis of cancer has been made, it can become the sole focus of medical care," Dr. James S. Goodwin and colleagues write. "This is understandable, because cancer is typically life threatening and often requires dramatic therapy. But earlier cancer diagnoses, due to screening, and improvements in treatment have been associated with lower cancer mortality," they note. "Thus, patients are living longer after a diagnosis of cancer," to the point where other illness may have a substantial effect on their survival, they point out.
Goodwin, of the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, and colleagues used data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Medicare database to assess the outcome of 208,601 men between the ages of 65 and 84 years diagnosed with prostate cancer from 1988 through 2002. Overall, 59.1 percent of the entire group had early-stage prostate cancer with low- to moderate-grade tumors.
The mortality in these patients was similar to that of men the same age without prostate cancer. Among the men with early-stage, low- or moderate-grade tumors, mortality from prostate cancer was 2.1 percent versus 6.4 percent from heart disease, and 3.8 percent from other cancers. The "substantial effect" of other illnesses on survival and the high mortality rate from causes other than prostate cancer may have important implications, Goodwin's team notes.
Treatment decisions for localized prostate cancer should consider life expectancy based on age and the contribution of other conditions to the patient's mortality, they note. Also, the decision to use androgen deprivation therapy, which is now commonly used to treat even early-stage prostate cancer, must be made carefully if another significant illness is present. With this approach, androgen, a male sex hormone that can stimulate the growth of prostate cancer tumors, is blocked. Overall, the team concludes that older men with early-stage prostate cancer "would be well served by an ongoing focus on screening and prevention of cardiovascular disease and other cancers."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatric Society, Jan 2009. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090127/hl_nm/us_prostate_cancer_1
Dec 8, 2008 - Men who live with a woman are 40 per cent more likely to be screened for prostate cancer than men who live alone, even if they have a family history of the disease, according to a new study. "We looked at not only marital status, but whether or not they lived with someone versus being single or living alone. The presence of having someone else in your life is somehow positively influencing the man's screening behavior," said the study's lead author Lauren Wallner, a graduate research associate at the University of Michigan.
Ms. Wallner and her colleagues looked at the medical records of 2,115 Minnesota men between the ages of 40 and 79 from the 1990s onward - the study is ongoing. The men also completed questionnaires about their family history of prostate cancer, concern about getting the disease, and their marital status. Those with a family history were 50 per cent more likely to get screened. Still, the likelihood decreased if they lived alone despite the well-established link between early testing and survival, according to the findings published in this month's issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "In terms of motivating people to get screened, there may be a benefit to targeting wives or significant others as well as men," Ms. Wallner said.
Although the study was conducted in the United States, the findings also appear to hold true for Canada.
Last spring, the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation of Canada asked 500 men and 500 women over the age of 40 across Canada who it was that booked the doctor's appointments in the family. "Only about half of the men we surveyed booked their own annual physicals," said Greg Sarney, the foundation's vice-president of marketing. "We also found that 85 per cent of women remind the men in their lives to schedule their annual physicals. They're obviously the ones staying on top of it."
Former firefighter John Wagontall, who lives in Lethbridge, Alta., was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004 and given five to seven years to live. Two years later, he cycled across the country to raise awareness about the disease. He stopped at fire halls along the way and spoke to firefighters; research has shown they are more vulnerable to several types of cancer, including prostate. "I have heard from a large number of men that they are less likely to go to a doctor without some prodding from wives or significant others," said Mr. Wagontall, 50.
The findings do not surprise psychologist Ross Gray, who counselled people with cancer and their families at Toronto's Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre for two decades. "Men make less use of all kinds of preventative services than do women," Mr. Gray said. "Men growing up learn to not pay attention to health issues. It's part of traditional masculinity that paying too much attention to health is kind of unmanly. It's not so much that they're looking to rely on women. Men don't go there themselves pro-actively."
Prostate cancer is the No. 1 cancer threat to Canadian men. It will afflict one in seven men in their lifetimes - about 24,700 men this year alone, according to the foundation. Mr. Sarney said many men do not realize they have a history of prostate cancer until after they're diagnosed. Aside from digital rectal exams, Mr. Sarney recommends that men ask for prostate specific antigen tests. He suggests getting a baseline test at 40 and going for annual testing at 50. Still, the issue is complicated by the fact that many men develop slow-growing tumours that may not prove to be life-threatening. As a result, some doctors adopt a policy of "watchful waiting," in which treatment is put off until the aggressiveness of the tumour can be determined.
Experts agree that prostate education materials should be targeted at women to reflect the fact that it is wives and girlfriends who run the health agenda at home -- By Zosia Bielski - Globe and Mail - www.theglobeandmail.com
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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.