According to Dr. William Oh, Deputy Director of the Tisch Cancer Institute, Chief of the Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, and Professor of Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, there are six myths about chemotherapy. Some prostate cancer patients shy away from or choose not to utilize chemotherapy. more »
Blood tests that examine circulating tumor cells, CTC’s, (cells that shed from the tumor or metastasis into circulation), for the presence of a mutated AR-V7 protein, could help determine if a patient with advanced prostate cancer would fare better with chemotherapy or with medicines such as enzalutamide (Xtandi) or abiraterone (Zytiga) that target the androgen receptor (a cellular more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) publishes an e mail blog entitited Current Contents to which one can subscribe. On January 23rd, their blog focused on non-opiod methods of managing cancer pain (see below). Pain is a common and much-feared symptom among people being treated for cancer and long-term more »
Rubraca (rucaparib), Clovis Oncology‘s oral PARP inhibitor, shrank tumors in 44% of metastatic hormone-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with BRCA mutations included in the Phase 2 TRITON2 clinical trial. The treatment, which is already approved for ovarian cancer, also reduced PSA levels — a biomarker of prostate cancer — in 51.1% of patients with BRCA more »
Immunotherapy with Keytruda (pembrolizumab) may be an effective way to treat some cases of advanced prostate cancer according to a preliminary study conducted at Oregon Health and Science University – Knight Cancer Institute. Findings were published in the journal Oncotarget in a paper entitled “Early evidence of anti-PD-1 activity in enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer.” Keytruda is a more »
OncBioMune Pharmaceuticals will soon start a Phase 2 clinical trial of its investigational vaccine ProscaVax in men with early-stage prostate cancer under “active surveillance”. ProscaVax consists of a combination of the PSA protein produced by the prostate gland with the cytokines interleukin-2 (IL-2) and granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). [Cytokines are molecules that participate in more »
In catching up on some news from a few months ago, I realized that much had been written recently about treating men with an early stage of advanced prostate cancer. So here is some information in addition to the following posts; The FDA Approves Apalutamide for Some Men with Prostate Cancer; and Xtandi Extends Metastasis-Free Survival in more »
I realize this is somewhat old news but I’d like to share it anyway. On February 14, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved apalutamide (Erleada) for men with prostate cancer that has not spread (non-metastatic) and is resistant to standard hormone therapy, also called androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). In the clinical trial that led to its approval, more »
Men with nonmetastatic, castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and a rapidly rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level are at high risk for metastasis. Currently, only one recently approved treatment, Erleada® (apalutamide), is available to these patients. Xtandi®, an androgen receptor inhibitor, is an approved treatment for metastatic CRPC patients. It has been shown to delay disease progression and prolong more »
The National Cancer Institute (NCI), the largest institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), recently posted a short (3-4 minute) but very illustrative video showing and describing three ways how our immune system fights cancer. These methods include: a) non-specific immune stimulation, as illustrated in bladder cancer; b) T-cell transfer therapy, somewhat similar to how more »
The following is bad news for men in England with advanced prostate cancer. The rationale behind making this drug unavailable to men was cost. If anyone here in the US recommends we switch to the British system of health care, this should serve as a wakeup call against it. The therapy as described in the more »
I recently came across an excellent review on the pros and cons of prostate cancer surgery as published by the Prostate Cancer Research Institute (PCRI). I am linking the review. If you are contemplating surgery, please read it and discuss it with your surgeon. You might also want to verify the opinions expressed in this more »
Drugs targeting poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) are helping patients battle back more effectively against cancer. An enzyme, PARP helps repair damaged DNA in cells, and while that’s a good thing in healthy people, it can be bad news for cancer patients. To prevent PARP from repairing DNA breaks in cancer cells, AstraZeneca developed Lynparza, a PARP inhibitor (PARPi) more »
The drug, TAK-700 (Ortoronel) and Phase 3 clinical trials have been described in a blog published on this website on June 3rd, 2011. TAK-700 is an oral, non-steroidal, androgen (e.g. testosterone) synthesis inhibitor. It is being developed by the Takeda Oncology Company affiliated with Millennium. They are sponsoring safety and efficacy clinical trials in men more »
On February 8th, the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a new indication for Zytiga® (abiraterone acetate) in combination with prednisone for the treatment of patients with metastatic high-risk hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (HSPC). The approval is based on Phase 3 data from the pivotal more »
On Feb. 14th, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved apalutamide (Erleada®, previously called ARN-509) for the treatment of non-metastatic, castration (hormone)-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Apalutamide could be administered in a clinical setting wherein men who are being treated with androgen (hormone) deprivation therapy (ADT) see their PSA levels begin to rise, but no metastases more »
According to results just recently presented at the February 2018 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, treatment with Xtandi® (enzalutamide) reduced the risk of metastasis or death in hormone-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) patients whose cancer has not yet spread beyond the prostate, Pfizer and Japan-based Astellas Pharma recently announced. The Phase 3 PROSPER clinical trial more »
OncBioMune’s investigational cancer vaccine ProscaVax reduced tumor growth in 70% of prostate cancer patients included in a Phase 1a study. The immunotherapy candidate consists of a combination of the PSA protein (a hallmark of prostate cancer) with the cytokines — molecules produced by immune cells — interleukin-2 (IL-2) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The clinical trial (NCT02058680) is evaluating the safety more »
Zero-the project to end prostate cancer is sponsoring a webcast on advanced prostate cancer. The webcast is scheduled for Tuesday, December 19th at 7-8 PM. For registration and information, see the following link.
Adding Xtandi® (enzalutamide) to hormone therapy reduces the risk of cancer spreading in patients with non-metastatic, hormone-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), new Phase 3 trial data shows. Additional results were announced by Pfizer and Astellas Pharma, the drug developers. “Many prostate cancer patients who initiate hormone therapy will experience disease progression illustrated by a rising PSA level, and currently, more »