Prostate cancer research is advancing on dozens of fronts. Scientists are probing the basic causes of disease, developing markers to distinguish slow-growing cancers from aggressive cancers, and testing drugs to control or reduce risk for prostate cancer. Most of the results are preliminary at present.
New techniques for performing brachytherapy are being developed using intra-operative treatment planning systems. This will allow for better quality implants that are less 'hot' than in the past. It is hoped that some of the urinary side effects will be less while maintaing the excellent 10 year results hat have been already achieved.
Genes and prostate cancer. Researchers are exploring numerous links between genes and the development of prostate cancer. They have identified several genes that may affect a prostate cancer's ability to spread (metastasize), a gene change spurred by hormonal therapy, and a gene flaw that interferes with the body's defenses against environmental carcinogens. The presence of multiple identical genetic segments (DNA repeats), which appear to intensify signals that order the cell to multiply, may provide a better way to predict a cancer's aggressiveness.
Control. Researchers are investigating the possibility that drugs might keep latent prostate cancers from developing into active cancers. In NCI's Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT), 18,000 healthy men age 55 and older are taking either finasteride (currently used to shrink the prostate in benign prostatic hyperplasia) or a placebo every day for 7 to 10 years. Smaller trials are testing DFMO, a drug that inactivates an enzyme that cells need in order to multiply, and 4-HPR, a vitamin A analog that may block hormone-responsive tumors.
Reduce risk. Since prostate cancer is less common in populations with low-fat, high-fiber, high-soy diets, scientists are also looking into the possibility of using diet to prevent prostate cancer from developing. There is still no evidence to show that switching to a healthy diet after years of eating high-fat foods will make a difference, but small studies are testing the effects of a low-fat, high-soy diet among men who have an increased risk of prostate cancer and men who have already been treated for prostate cancer. There is some evidence of a lower incidence of prostate cancer in men who eat lots of tomato-based foods, especially tomato sauce cooked with a little olive oil.
reference:NCI
