New Advance in Prostate Cancer Management
10 Aug 2005 - Scientists from The Institute of Cancer Research have developed a technique that is hope to markedly help in predicting the behaviour of prostate cancer.
At present, prostate cancer tests – needle biopsies, blood and urine samples - are unable to accurately predict how aggressive the cancer is and whether it is likely to progress, resulting in thousands of men undergoing radical preventative surgery which may be unnecessary.
The new technique will allow the investigation of an enormous untapped resource of clinical specimens obtained at the time of diagnosis of cancer in order to identify markers of the cancer’s aggressiveness. The method will be pivotal in developing a test for prostate cancer aggressiveness which may ultimately prevent thousands of men undergoing unnecessary surgery that is often associated severe side effects including incontinence and impotence.“This represents a real advance for the future management of prostate cancer,” said Professor Colin Cooper, Team Leader of The Institute’s Cell Transformation Team. “Eventually we hope to be able to distinguish the tigers - aggressive tumours requiring treatment - from the pussycats - non aggressive tumours which can be monitored for many years without treatment. Ultimately this could prevent thousands of men from having to undergo radical surgery, which can have devastating effects on their day to day lives.”
Find out more about Professor Cooper’s research and The Institute's Section of Molecular Carcinogenesis.
