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, May 26th, 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
-- Alan Mozes, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- Harnessing cutting-edge techniques, a variety of human, animal and laboratory studies are suggesting innovative new ways to beat cancer. Brain, prostate, and pancreatic cancer are some of the specific targets of the new research described Sunday in Denver at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"This is an extremely exciting time in cancer research," observed Dr. David Carbone, director of the thoracic oncology center at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in Nashville. "Even in the kinds of cancers that traditionally have been very resistant to therapy, we're starting to see clues of amazing responses and clinical benefits for patients." Carbone, himself a cancer survivor, was not engaged in any of the investigations under discussion in Denver.
One of the studies involved a clinical trial into a new therapy for prostate cancer. That study's lead author, Dr. Richard Junghans, described his team's effort as an attempt "to find a cure for patients who will ultimately die, because standard therapies don't really work".
"Prostate cancer kills about 3,000 [men] every month," observed Junghans, an associate professor in the department of surgery and medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, as well as chief of the division of surgical research at Roger Williams Medical Center in Providence, R.I. "Chemotherapy doesn't work, and hormone treatment can keep the prostate under control for one to two and maybe even three years. But after that, there's very little left. So almost all patients who've had their cancer spread to the bones will die, and it can be a miserable way to go."
"So, what we've done is to go in a radical new direction to develop a therapy that is not a chemical, not an inert drug, not a hormone," he explained. "It's almost a living organism. It's actually the patient's own T-cells -- white blood cells that exist in everyone's body -- that have been modified and engineered to be 'fooled' into attacking the cancer." Junghans said that the first two patients to receive a single infusion with the new treatment experienced a 50 percent to 75 percent reduction in their blood level of prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a measure of prostate cancer activity, over the following two months. "I'm very excited, because this achievement was with the lowest dose of the therapy, which we now plan to try out at a level ten times as high," he noted. Junghans said he and his team hope to "achieve a 100 percent reduction (in PSA)." [Article continues about research on brain and pancreatic cancer]
At this point in cancer research, "we obviously have a long way to go," remarked Vanderbilt's Carbone. "But this is all about more than just hope. I've been practicing for 18 years now, and I can say that we now are developing a new reality, as we learn more and more about cancer. And this will translate into real people having real responses and real improvements in their quality of life as they battle cancer. And that is what's so exciting." Source: http://news.yahoo.com
WEDNESDAY, April 8 (HealthDay News) -- Stress management counseling appears to benefit men who have all or part of their prostate removed (radical prostatectomy) to treat early-stage prostate cancer, says a U.S. study. The study was published in April in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
The study included 159 patients who were assigned to receive one of the following: two 60- to 90-minute sessions of pre-surgical stress management counseling and brief booster sessions the morning of, and 48 hours following surgery; two 60- to 90-minute sessions of individual supportive attention sessions and boosters similar to the stress management group; or standard care (no therapy).
In the short term (one week before and the morning of surgery), men in the stress management group had the lowest levels of mood disturbance (distress, anxiety, depression), followed by those in the supportive attention group. There was a statistically significant difference between men in the stress management group and those in the standard care group, who had the highest levels of mood disturbance.
In the long term (six weeks and 12 months after surgery), the men in the stress management group reported the highest levels of physical functioning and aspects of quality of life. Again, the difference between the men in the stress management group and those in the standard care group was statistically significant.
"We know that for men with early-stage prostate cancer, the time when they are making treatment decisions is very stressful. A radical prostatectomy is not without possible, very personal, consequences, including urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Patients may also be worried about the uncertainty that the surgery will cure their cancer," senior author Lorenzo Cohen, a professor in the departments of behavioral science and general oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said in a news release.
"Before we can suggest that stress management is useful prior to surgery for all men undergoing a radical prostatectomy, we need to better understand the mechanism behind our findings, as well as understand for whom this type of intervention will be the most useful," Cohen noted. "However, that said, all diagnosed with cancer treatment should be encouraged to participate in any stress management program -- be it mind-body, or cognitive in nature. We know that they are safe and may improve patients' well-being and help them adjust to a cancer diagnosis." SOURCE: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, news release, April 6, 2009 http://www.medicinenet.com
Vaccine's Maker Says Provenge Improved Survival in Pivotal Study………….. WebMD Health News April 14, 2009 -- Provenge, an experimental treatment vaccine for advanced prostate cancer, met researchers' goal in a key trial needed for FDA approval. That news comes from Dendreon, the company that makes Provenge. "We believe this is truly a breakthrough for the prostate cancer community and a testament to the promise of the field of cancer immunotherapies," Dendreon's president and chief executive officer Mitchell Gold, MD, said in a conference call today.
Provenge is a biologic drug given by infusion to spur the immune system to fight advanced prostate cancer that doesn't respond to anti-androgen treatment.
In 2007, an FDA advisory panel recommended that the FDA approve Provenge. But instead, the FDA requested more information about whether Provenge prolongs survival. That request led to a new study of 512 men with advanced prostate cancer. Those men had metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer, meaning their cancer had spread and wasn't responding to anti-androgen treatment. In that study, overall survival was significantly better for men taking Provenge than those taking a placebo. The study's results were "unambiguous" and "very consistent" with previous Provenge trials, Gold says.
Dendreon plans to submit the study's results to the FDA in the fourth quarter of 2009; after that, the FDA will have six months to review the material, Gold says. "This data supports Provenge being used as front-line treatment in men with metastatic, androgen-independent prostate cancer," says Gold, who notes that no new side effects from Provenge stood out in the study. In previous trials, the most common side effects in men taking Provenge were chills, fever, headache, fatigue, shortness of breath, vomiting, and tremor, mainly at a low level and for one to two days following infusion.
Gold says that those men would first have surgery or some form of local therapy, then anti-androgen therapy if their cancer recurred, and if their PSA levels rose after that, "Provenge would come into play as a potential treatment option for them."
Dendreon isn't releasing any further details of the study until April 28, when the findings will be presented at the American Urological Association's annual meeting in Chicago. The technology used to make Provenge may also prove useful against other forms of cancer, Gold says.
American Cancer Society Responds: The American Cancer Society released a statement about today's Provenge news. The statement comes from Otis W. Brawley, MD, chief medical officer at the American Cancer Society.
Dendreon's announcement about the new Provenge study "is reason for optimism about a vaccine that has generated controversy for several years," Brawley says. "We have to respect the scientific process, an important part of which is a full disclosure and careful review and discussion of the data, which the company says will not be released until an upcoming medical meeting."
"One of the most important questions we'll be looking at will be the magnitude of the survival advantage; how much longer the men taking the vaccine lived compared to those on standard therapy," Brawley continues. "As with any new therapy, it will take a detailed analysis to fully understand the impact of this potential new treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. We look forward to the presentation of the study at the upcoming meeting." Source: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=99342
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 31, 2009 - Carefully selected men with "low-risk" prostate cancer can safely delay treatment and opt instead for active surveillance, researchers report in the April issue of The Journal of Urology. With active surveillance, or "watchful waiting," patients with early prostate tumors are monitored regularly and only treated if their cancer progresses.
"Active surveillance with delayed treatment, if necessary, for select patients appears to be safe" and associated with a low risk of the cancer spreading, the researchers conclude.
Despite the potential survival advantages associated with prostate cancer treatment, senior investigator Dr. Bertrand Guillonneau told Reuters Health, "there is still a large number of patients who are over-treated and who will suffer from prolonged side effects that impair their quality of life." "Active surveillance, based on strict criteria," added Guillonneau, "might be a way to sort out patients with growing tumor that requires treatment from quiescent tumor that will not progress."
To study the safety of active monitoring instead of immediate treatment of men with low-risk prostate cancer, Guillonneau, of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, and colleagues studied 268 men younger than age 75 years.
All of the men had been given multiple treatment options but ultimately chose active surveillance over immediate treatment. The men had early "low-risk" disease, based on their prostate specific antigen (PSA) level and initial biopsy findings.
The men had a second "restaging" biopsy immediately before active surveillance began and no treatment in the following 6 months. They subsequently underwent physical exams and PSA tests every six months with biopsies recommended every 1 to 2 years.
Of that initial pool of men electing active surveillance of their cancer, 43 eventually chose treatment or had evidence of cancer progression prompting recommendation of treatment by their physician. Following delayed treatment (radiation or surgery,) all but one were cured of their cancer. The remaining 219 patients remained on active surveillance without evidence that their disease had spread. At 2 years the probability of staying on active surveillance was 91 percent. At 5 years, it was 75 percent.
"Our study indicates that 75 percent of the patients who are real candidates for active surveillance will still fulfill the same criteria 5 years later, demonstrating the absence of noticeable (disease) progression," Guillonneau said. "These patients should still be closely monitored," he concluded, "but it seems likely, for many of them, the prostate cancer will not ultimately develop and will not require any kind of active and therefore morbid treatment." SOURCE: The Journal of Urology, 4/2009. http://www.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=USTRE52U5Z320090331
Thanks to many people who contribute to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, research is leading to new treatments that rob prostate cancer cells of the fuel they need to survive.
It’s a simple fact: When a car engine runs out of fuel, it quits running. It “dies.” The same is true for prostate cancer — and now, because of revolutionary research funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, scientists are on the verge of learning how to cut off the fuel that drives prostate cancer cells. Over the past 16 years, the PCF has led the way in the fight against prostate cancer. Today, PCF-funded scientists understand better than ever how prostate cancer cells work — and how to turn them off. Prostate cancer cells work much like a car engine. They need “fuel” to run and grow. The “fuel” that drives these cells is testosterone. Just like a car engine, if you cut off the fuel, the cell can’t run.
Unlimited Fuel Supply - A common treatment for advanced prostate cancer is to use medications to reduce testosterone in men, and most patients respond for a period of time. But in some men, the cancer continues to grow.
How? - Researchers recently learned that prostate cancer cells can actually produce their own fuel — or testosterone — directly in the cell itself. These cells have figured out how to fill their own gas tank. With this new source of fuel, the tumor can continue to grow, invade, and progress.
Out of Gas - In 2008, however, researchers discovered two new medications that can specifically block this new source of testosterone from reaching the cell’s engine. Although the cells can continue to produce the “gasoline,” these medications prevent that gasoline from reaching the cells' gas tanks. Once more, without that fuel, the cell engines can’t run — and they die. Even better, unlike chemotherapy and other treatments, these new medications have minimal side effects on men’s health.
Funding Clinical Trials - Today, generous donations are helping fund clinical trials to test these new medications — Abiraterone and MDV3100. In particular, the PCF has invested in a three-year project to learn more about how these medications work to block testosterone in the cells and to help researchers develop the next generation of prostate cancer treatments. Source: http://www.prostatecancerfoundation.org
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