Multiple sclerosis may lead to lower cancer risk

Mon Mar 30, 2009 4:11pm EDT

LONDON (Reuters) - People with multiple sclerosis may have a lower risk of cancer, possibly because of lifestyle changes they make after they are diagnosed with the neurological condition, researchers said on Monday.

An analysis of the medical records of more than 20,000 people with multiple sclerosis showed that patients had a 10 percent lower risk of cancer over 35 years than people without MS.

“We speculate that the lower risk for cancer among people with MS could be a result of lifestyle changes or treatment following diagnosis,” Shahram Bahmanyar of Sweden’s Karolinksa Institute, who led the study, said in a statement.

For complete article: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52T6TD20090330

WASHINGTON - Prostate cancer has been left behind in the race for personalized medicine, but that may be changing:  Doctors are starting to attempt gene-guided treatment for men with advanced disease.It is an approach already offered in treating breast cancer and certain other cancers. The new prostate work is a small initial step at catching up, it targets the men in most dire need - those whose prostate cancer has spread to other parts of the body, and hormone treatments to slow its progression has quit working.These are the men who ultimately wind up dying of prostate cancer, some 28,000 a year in the United States. Phillip Febbo of Duke University is trying to better direct therapy by looking directly at a tumor’s genetic signature. The research is very preliminary, but if a gene-guided method ultimately should work, it could ease what is called the shotgun approach to advanced prostate cancer. Starting next month (April 2009), Duke will recruit men for a study that will help determine their treatment.    By Lauran Neergaard Associated Press    Go to:  Hunting tailored care for advanced prostate cancer

Four Years Post Treatment Yesterday I visited my urologist for my 6 month checkup, digital exam, and PSA test. It has been four years since I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and went to Loma Linda University Medical  Center for proton radiation treatment. I know that I have had at least 20 PSA tests since my treatment. I was disappointed at first that my PSA wasn’t lower. It was 1.56 just 6 months after treatment. I expected it to be less that 1.00, maybe even less than .20. After a lot of research, I “discovered” that after radiation treatment, it may take 2-4 years for your PSA to reach the “nadir” or the lowest point. I then began to look forward to successive PSAs and to plot them to track the trend of my PSA. The trend has continued to be “down” now for these four years.    My PSA yesterday was .45. I am extremely pleased. This is an example of how each person’s PSA is different and you cannot compare yourself to others. You need to keep records, track your PSA, find out what YOUR “standard” is. Your PSA is not an absolute measurement, it is peculiar to you.  Six months ago, my PSA was 0.42. Yesterday it was 0.45. Am I concerned? No. Yesterday the doctor did a digital exam BEFORE the PSA test. In addition, he had an intern that did a digital exam. The literature says that a digital exam, sexual activity, and maybe activities such as bicycle riding can cause a temporary rise in your PSA. (A study demonstrated that running a marathon DID NOT cause a rise in the PSA that was statistically measurable.) I am sure that if I had not had two digital exams prior to the PSA test my number would be as low or lower than the previous number.    You also have to take into consideration the accuracy of the equipment, when it was last checked against a standard, etc. I am sure that 0.42 and 0.45 are within the limits of testing accuracy, all things considered. For additional information on PSA, nadir, PSA accuracy, check my previous entries. 

Measles Virus May Be Effective Prostate Cancer Treatment

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2009) — A new study appearing in The Prostate has found that certain measles virus vaccine strain derivatives, including a strain known as MV-CEA, may prove to be an effective treatment for patients with advanced prostate cancer. The findings show that this type of treatment, called virotherapy, can effectively infect, replicate in and kill prostate cancer cells. Prostate cancer is a leading cause death among males in the western world. It is currently the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths among American men with 186,320 new cases and 28,660 deaths expected to be recorded in 2008. A sizeable proportion of these patients ultimately relapse, with a 5-year failure rate for treatment ranging from 14 to 34 percent. No curative therapy is currently available for locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer.

The median survival time of MV-CEA-treated mice in the study almost doubled compared to the controls, and complete tumor regression was observed in one-fifth of treated animals.

“Based on our preclinical results as well as the safety of measles derivatives in clinical trials against other tumor types, these viral strains could represent excellent candidates for clinical testing against advanced prostate cancer, including androgen resistant tumors,” says Evanthia Galanis, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic, senior author of the study. The study was supported by the Mayo Clinic Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) in prostate cancer.

These oncolytic strains of measles virus, represent a novel class of therapeutic agents against cancer that demonstrates no cross-resistance with existing treatment approaches, and can therefore be combined with conventional treatment methods.

Because primary tumor sites are easily accessible in prostate cancer, locally recurrent disease represents a promising target for virotherapy approaches. The virotherapy agent can easily be applied directly to the prostate tumor via ultrasound-guided needle injections and close monitoring of therapy can be achieved by non-invasive techniques including ultrasound and MRI.

The measles vaccine strains also have an excellent safety record with millions of vaccine doses having been safely administered in over 40 years of use. Repeated measurements of the marker CEA (carcinoembryonic antigen, produced when the virus replicates) following MV-CEA treatment can be performed via a simple blood test, and can potentially allow for optimization of dosing as well as the tailoring of individualized treatment. To date, no significant toxicity from MV-CEA treatment of patients with other tumor types has been observed.

Prior studies have demonstrated the therapeutic potency of MV-Edm derivatives against a variety of preclinical animal models including ovarian cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, breast cancer, multiple myeloma, lymphoma and hepatocellular carcinoma.

The promising results prompted the rapid translation of engineered MV-Edm strains in three clinical trials that are currently active. In the ovarian cancer trial, the furthest advanced; evidence of biologic activity has been noted in refractory ovarian cancer patients.

The results set the foundation for additional studies in preparation for using engineered measles strains in a clinical trial for the treatment of patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Journal reference:

1. Msaouel et al. Engineered measles virus as a novel oncolytic therapy against prostate cancer. The Prostate, 2009; 69 (1): 82 DOI: 10.1002/pros.20857

Adapted from materials provided by Wiley-Blackwell.

A friend with prostate cancer sent this to me, I thought others might be interested also. I will look for more information to post later.

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic have found that certain strains of the measles virus, including one known as MV-CEA, may be an effective treatment for advanced prostate cancer. The type of treatment, known as virotherapy, can infect and kill prostate cancer cells.Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer-related cause of death in American men, accounting for almost 29,000 fatalities each year. Up to 34 percent of the 186,000 men diagnosed each year will eventually suffer a relapse, and there are no curative therapies available for locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer.Mice treated with the MV-CEA lived twice as long as the controls and one-fifth of the treated animals had complete tumor regression.Since primary tumor sites in prostate cancer are easily accessible, the virotherapy agent can be applied directly to the prostate tumor using ultrasound. The CEA marker (carcinoembryonic antigen, produced when the virus multiples) can be monitored by a simple blood test, allowing accurate monitoring and individualized treatment.“Based on our preclinical results as well as the safety of measles derivatives in clinical trials against other tumor types, these viral strains could represent excellent candidates for clinical testing against advanced prostate cancer, including androgen resistant tumors,” says Evanthia Galanis, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic. 

I have neglected paware.org to long! I continue to receive calls and talk to men about prostate cancer and their PSA and Gleason Score and options available. I will begin to post that information on a regular basis starting 1-24-2009.Thanks for your patience! 

I just realized that I had not posted my latest PSA test results. I had my last PSA test on October 12, 2007 and it was 0.73. I know that there are those that say that after treatment it should be >0.2. I beg to differ with them. My PSA for many years before I had prostate camcer was in the range of 0.6 - 0.7. That may very well be my “normal” PSA. After all, I still have a prostate! In addition, there are studies that show that it can take 36 - 50 months to reach your nadir PSA after radiation therapy.
See my earlier post on November 1, 2005 titled Four Months Post Treatment for additional information on how radiation treatment affects PSA.
I am encouraged and looking forward to my next PSA test which will be about the middle of Jannuary 2008.
Have a blessed day!

Is there benefit to drinking Pomegranate juice?
There is a fairly recent study that indicated 8 oz of pomegranate juice a day increased the time before the recurrence of prostate cancer for patients that had a prostatectomy or radiation treatment of prostate cancer. If it helps slow the recurrence, it should help in prevention!
There is a web site that you can go to and read the report:
Pomegranate Juice
I have tried many brands of pomegranate juice and most are bitter and upset my stomach and some are undrinkable! The one I like best is a concentrate made by Dynamic Health Laboratories, Inc. You can get it at a health food store or they can order it for you.
Dynamic Health Laboratories
The juice is a concentrate that you mix 5 parts water to 1 part concentrate.
We had two couples at our home for brunch the other day and none had drank pomegranate juice before. They all drank some and all enjoyed it!
I encourage you to try it annd to consider adding 8 oz to your daily diet.

PS: I own no stock in Dynamic Health Laboratories and receive nothing from them for this recomendation.

After 15 days of antibiotics, I saw my urologist again on June 27th. My PSA was .66! That was an encouragement! I have another appointment on Oct 2nd. We will do another PSA then.

I have a friend in CA that had a prostatectomy about 5 years ago. His PSA started increasing last year. His doctor at UCLA recommended he start drinking 8 ozs of Pomegranate juice every day. I also read a study that recently came out that seemed to indicate that Pomegranate juice has a very positive effect on the prostate.

I started dringing 8 ozs daily last week. I purchased a juice concentrate that mixes 1 part concentrate to 5 parts water. It has a great taste! I either mix with water or add 40 ml of concentrate to a fruit/kefir smoothie. Is is great tasting and hopefully will help lower my PSA or keep it from increasing.

I went for my annual physical May 31, 2007. Of course I recieved a prostate check and also bloodwork to determine my PSA. My last PSA was 0.54 and with the downward trend I have had the past two years, I expected it to be even lower. Well, to my surprise, we found out on Thursday it had more than doubled to 1.12 since January 29th! Kay made me an appointment with the urologist for Monday and we spent the weekend just releasing this whole cancer thing to God again.

It is amazing how you can go through all this and release it all to God and then little by little take it back! I am grateful for the opportunity to reevaluate everything and put it all back in the hands of God!

Well, today we met with my urologist for the first time in over two years. He looked at my records and said, “You received proton treatment, good. Looks like we are going to have a proton center here soon.” After some further discussion and evaluation, he prescribed an antibiotic for two weeks. I return on the 27th for bloodwork and to see what the next step is. It could be an infection or any of “a hundred and one things” as the doctor said.

I am encouraged after a long weekend of deep thought and I am grateful for a God that I can put my full trust in!