Prostate Cancer Survivor Documentary Movie

I’m going to be making a documentary about prostate cancer survivors and their families during this summer’s Tour de USA. The city schedule (46 cities) is posted on the event site. If you would like to be interviewed and tell your story, just visit the website, join the mailing list and send us email. This is a story that really needs to be told.

January 20, 2010 Weight In - Biggest Loser Potential?

In my post last week, I was at 154 determined to drop back to 149 as my ideal weight - I’m 5“10”, and 149 still places me above my ideal BMI. I’m struggling a bit, though. The kids are still in the house and that ‘kid food’ is so tempting. Hello carrots and veggies! Check back and see how I’ve done next week. I’m also getting back on the back and hitting the weights in the gym. I’m also going to explore some weight programs for 65+, since I just hit that mark. What programs are you other survivors using to control your weight?

Where to Get Really Good Information from Prostate Cancer Survivors

Finding really good information about prostate cancer is a challenge. The ACOR LISTSERV provides an ongoing dialogue between prostate cancer survivors about their conditions, the treatments they are following and the treatment outcomes. if you are recently diagnosed or in your survivor period, I highly recommend subscribing to the LISTSERV. If you find it useful and have the resources, consider making a donation to support their operations.

Gene Mutation Tied to Increased Risk of Aggressive Prostate Cancer

January 12, 2010

A new gene mutation has been discovered that may explain why some men are especially prone to developing prostate cancer
Boston (DbTechNo) - A new gene mutation has been discovered that may explain why some men are especially prone to developing prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer is one of the more tricky forms of the disease, as it can either present as an aggressive tumor or a slow growing tumor which determines the appropriate form of treatment.

It is one of the more common types of cancer diagnosed in men, and the aggressive form of the disease is the second leading cancer killer for men in America.

Researchers have discovered a gene mutation dubbed “rs4054823″ which puts a man at a 25% increased risk of being diagnosed with the aggressive form of the disease.

“This finding addresses one of the most important clinical questions of prostate cancer — the ability at an early stage to distinguish between aggressive and slow-growing disease,” said the study’s lead author Jianfeng Xu, cancer expert at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina.

“Although the genetic marker currently has limited clinical utility, we believe it has the potential to one day be used in combination with other clinical variables and genetic markers to predict which men have aggressive prostate cancer at a stage when the disease is still curable.”

The study can be found in the upcoming addition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Source: dbtechno.com

Obesity Responsible for 100,000 Cancer Cases Annually

Research is beginning to quantify that old saying that “we are our own worst enemy.”

A recent report from the American Institute of Cancer Research (AICR) states that excess body fat is a major cause of cancer. The AICR research looked at seven cancers know to have correlations with cancer and calculated the actual case counts that were likely to have been caused by obesity. The numbers in the study are shocking: 49% of endometrial cancers, 24% of kidney cancers, 28% of pancreatic cancers, 17% of breast cancers, and 9% of colorectal cancers.

Dr. Laurence Kolonel, Deputy Director of the Cancer Research Center of Hawaii and AICR/WCRF expert panel member, presented the new preventability estimates and noted that “We now know that carrying excess body fat plays a central role in many of the most common cancers,” and “it’s clearer than ever that obesity’s impact is felt before, during, and after cancer - it increases risk, makes treatment more difficult and shortens survival.”

29000 Men Comment
I am now going into my 7th year as a prostate cancer survivor and I’m watching my PSA bounce around at the .02, .06, .04 range. My doctors keep telling me not to worry, but I don’t believe I’m cured, and I still have that monkey on my back. Following my surgery in 2003, I went on a strict vegetarian diet and my weight dropped to 144 pounds, just 2 pounds more that when I graduated from college and went in the Army. Over the past two years, I gradually relaxed my diet and my weight increased to 154. My goal for 2010 is to return to my survival eating regime and lose that weight. After all, if the cancer returns, wouldn’t I be greatly to blame? In my business life I talk frequently about accountability. Well, this is pretty much the ultimate in personal accountability. My weight today was 154. Check my as I track my progress. If you want to begin exercising, consider bicycling. It’s a great sport.

Prostate Cancer TRAP

Prostate cancer cells are often resistant to cell death. Researchers led by Dr. Dario C. Altieri of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, therefore, explored the role of TRAP-1, a protein thought to regulate cell death, in prostate cancer survival. TRAP-1 was highly expressed in both high-grade human prostate cancer lesions and mouse models of prostate cancer, but not in benign or normal prostate tissue. In addition, TRAP-1 over expression in non-cancer prostate cells inhibited cell death, whereas TRAP-1-deficient prostate cancer cells had enhanced levels of cell death. Moreover, treatment with Gamitrinib, which inhibits TRAP-1, resulted in prostate cancer cell death, but not death of non-cancerous prostate cells. Therefore, targeting TRAP-1 via Gamitrinib treatment may be a viable therapeutic strategy for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Leav et al suggest that "TRAP-1 [is] a novel marker of localized and metastatic prostate cancer, but not normal glands, required for prostate cancer cell viability, in vivo. Taken together with the preliminary safety of Gamitrinibs in preclinical studies, these data suggest that targeting mitochondrial TRAP-1 may provide a novel therapeutic approach for patients with advanced and metastatic prostate cancer" A similar approach may be also suitable for other types of cancer, as TRAP-1 is broadly expressed in disparate human malignancies. In future studies, Dr. Altieri and colleagues plan to "further dissect the biology of TRAP-1 cytoprotection in cancer cells, and test whether disabling its function may overcome drug resistance, the most common reason of treatment failure and dismal outcome in patients with advanced prostate cancer.”

Source: American Journal of Pathology