Tag: advanced prostate cancer

New study identifies biological mechanism driving therapy resistance in advanced prostate cancer

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, ResearchLeave a comment

This is potentially exciting news.

Advanced prostate cancer often becomes resistant to treatment with hormone therapies as it advances, and this recent discovery by researchers at the University of Chicago suggests that there may be a way to reverse that resistance:

Current treatment options for treatment-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer are largely limited to platinum-based chemotherapies, which offer modest survival benefits. The discovery that tRNA modulation can reverse lineage switching suggests that RNA-targeted therapeutics such as synthetic tRNA mimics or small molecules that enhance tRNAArg (UCU)-1 production, could re-sensitize hard-to-treat tumors to existing, widely available androgen receptor-targeted drugs.

You can find the press release here (it contains a link to the original paper):

https://biologicalsciences.uchicago.edu/news/mechanism-therapy-resistance-prostate-cancer

Of course, it will take years to develop this and get this to patients, but it is promising.

Header image: Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Clinical Trial: Bispecific T-Cell Engagers for Advanced Prostate Cancer …

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer, ResearchLeave a comment

This has promising potential and is something to keep an eye on going forward. Links to the trials mentioned are in the video description.

Useless trivia: This is my 600th post.

Header Image: Anza-Borrego Desert, California

Treatment of Prostate Cancer: Dr. Hahn CALLS FOR Protecting QoL in the E…

On By DanIn Hormone Therapy, Prostate Cancer, Side Effects1 Comment

With more trials showing that starting ADT + ARPI hormone therapy early has significant benefits, it’s important to look at the gap between the efficacy and Quality of Life outcomes found in the trials versus what’s happening in the real world. 

It’s an interesting discussion that makes you approach starting ADT + ARPI more cautiously.

The March of Innovation in Prostate Cancer

On By DanIn Hormone Therapy, Prostate Cancer, Research3 Comments

I stumbled across this video on my YouTube feed and found it to be a great overview of many of the trials that are behind the advances in advanced prostate cancer treatment. The video is apparently part of a larger training course for doctors, so it’s not geared toward patients. Even so, I found it informative and (mostly) understandable.

One thing that I found interesting was that there’s an apparent shift away from the use of the word “castration” in describing the state of the disease and treatment options.

The purpose of this was really to ensure that we were trying to be thoughtful around our patients’ feelings around use of the word “castration” and trying to eliminate that from the terminology.

Instead of describing it as “non-metastatic castrate sensitive prostate cancer (nmCSPC)” it’s now called “androgen pathway modulation sensitive (APMS)” or “androgen pathway modulation naïve (APMN).” Once the cancer becomes resistant, it will be called “androgen pathway modulation resistant (APMR).”

To me, it seems as though they want to sugarcoat the hormone therapy experience with these name changes, and the patient may not grasp the full gravity of what’s about to happen to him when he starts this treatment. I’d definitely understand “castration” before understanding “androgen pathway modulation sensitive.” To be fair, it would be interesting to see how many men turn down hormone therapy because they hear the word “castration.” Maybe that’s the driving force behind the name change.

Because Dr. Rettig works with veteran patients at the VA Los Angeles, it was helpful to me to hear some of his insights working with that group.

The video is an hour long.

Video: “Playing the Long Game” – Does your Recurrent/Advanced Prostate Cancer Need Treating? NCI Seminar

On By DanIn Hormone Therapy, Prostate Cancer, Recurrence, TreatmentLeave a comment

One of the best things about keeping this blog going over the years is learning new information from you, the readers.

Recently, a reader left a link to this video in the comments of one of my recent posts. It highlights the work that two doctors from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have been doing when it comes to assessing whether and/or when to treat patients with recurrent/advanced prostate cancer.

The video is about an hour long (I changed the playback speed to 1.25x to get through it a little faster) and was very timely for my current situation.

One of the interesting parts was the discussion on how to define metastatic prostate cancer. It’s still pretty squishy if you ask me.

It will be interesting to see what the oncologist says tomorrow.

Be well!

Header image: Anza-Borrego Desert, California

Day 5,593 ¾ – Scan Results

On By DanIn imaging, Prostate Cancer7 Comments

In the hour or so since my last post, my scan results were posted online:

“No evidence of recurrent prostate cancer or metastatic disease.”

<Sigh>

Needless to say, I have mixed emotions about these results.

I just want an explanation so that we can figure out next steps. After four scans with the same results, I’m of the mindset that I’m in the 10% of patients for whom PSMA PET scans don’t work.

You can bet I’ll be talking about other imaging options during my upcoming appointment, as well as any other plausible explanations for what’s going on.

At this point, I’m tired, frustrated, and stymied.

Treating Lymph Node #ProstateCancer Metastases | MarkScholzMD

On By DanIn Prostate CancerLeave a comment

Here’s another timely (for me) and educational video from Dr. Scholz and the Prostate Cancer Research Institute.

I have an appointment with the medical oncologist on 19 March, and this has given me a good foundation for the discussion.

Advanced Prostate Cancer Treatments + Extended Q+A | Mark Scholz MD

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer3 Comments

This hour and fifteen minute long video from the Prostate Cancer Research Institute and Dr. Mark Scholz was incredibly informative to me given my recent uptick in PSA and where I may be heading.

He talks about the various types of advanced prostate cancer and the different treatment options or tools that are available to manage or even try to cure it.

One thing he talks about (starting around 17:15 in the video), is the shift from the historical approach of using sequential treatments to using multiple treatment methods simultaneously to attack the cancer. That looks to have promising outcomes.

The main presentation ends around 36.5 minutes into the video, and it’s followed up by an interview with questions and answers for the remainder of the video.

Advanced #ProstateCancer Treatments | Eugene Kwon, MD | DIY Combat Manual

On By DanIn Prostate Cancer3 Comments

This is an excellent hour-long video on advanced prostate cancer and its treatment from the Prostate Cancer Research Institute and Dr. Kwon.

You may want to watch this on a computer with a monitor instead of your mobile device, as the print in the slides that are presented is rather small and difficult to view on a small screen.