The first patient with prostate cancer, in addition to advanced cancer, was cured with a shock dose of testosterone. Risky, but as it turned out – effective therapy was used by oncologists from Baltimore in the USA.
The cured patient is an American who fought with advanced prostate cancer. Scientists for the first time used a controversial therapy involving high doses of testosterone attacking cancer cells. Controversial, because most of the therapies used to treat prostate cancer are to lower testosterone levels, which are believed to fuel cancer. Therefore, the scientific world took the result of the experiment with caution, commenting it as “surprising” and “exciting”.
47 patients underwent therapy. They all had advanced prostate cancer. Amazing reactions were observed in all of them – the tumors shrank and the progression of the disease was stopped. Most of the patients had significantly decreased levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA), a marker used to monitor prostate cancer.
Everything indicates that one patient has been completely cured. After three months of treatment, his PSA levels dropped to zero, and after 22 cycles of testosterone injections, there is no sign of disease in his body, the researchers said. – Our goal was to “shock” cancer cells with a sudden increase and then a sudden drop in testosterone levels in the blood – explains Prof. Sam Denmeade of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, USA, who led the study. – The results turned out to be surprising and exciting. – For now, we are at the initial stage and we are trying to explain how this therapy works, and how to create a new model of therapy based on this knowledge. – In many patients the disease has stabilized and no progress has been observed for over 12 months. I think we cured one patient whose PSA level dropped to zero after three months of treatment and remains at this level to this day, after 22 cycles. There is no trace of disease in his body.
All participants in the experiment suffered from advanced prostate cancer that was resistant to treatment with two new-generation hormonal drugs: abiraterone acetate and enzalutamide. The study used bipolar androgen therapy to manipulate the levels of testosterone in the body, alternating between raising and lowering it. This is a revolutionary approach to therapy as testosterone is generally considered to fuel prostate cancer. For several decades, men with advanced prostate cancer have been undergoing treatment that cuts off the supply of testosterone or blocks the effect of this hormone on prostate cancer cells. Therefore, for a patient suffering from prostate cancer, increasing testosterone levels is generally compared to adding gasoline to a fire. However, laboratory experiments indicated that attacking a tumor with high levels of the hormone could inhibit the growth and even destroy the cancer cells.
What was the human study like? Participants in the study were given an injection of testosterone in high doses every 28 days. At the same time, they were taking a drug that suppressed the natural production of testosterone in the testicles.
Prof. Denmeade points out that the way this therapy works is unclear at the moment, but it seems to use cell signaling and, in part, the process of cell division. High doses of testosterone also damage the DNA of prostate cancer cells. These cells stop dividing and begin to age. – They become like old men who sit and tell stories without creating any problems – the researcher explains.
About 47 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year in the UK, and more than 11 patients have fatal cancer. “Testosterone-lowering drugs (androgen deprivation therapy) have proven to be very effective in treating thousands of patients with advanced prostate cancer,” said Dr. Matt Hobbs, deputy director of research for Prostate Cancer UK. “However, at some point the cancer starts to develop and the drugs stop working. This is a very intriguing study because it seems to prove – surprisingly – that some men whose cancer has reached a stage of resistance to hormone treatment can destroy or stop the growth of cancer cells with a massive attack of testosterone, she adds.
Every now and then there are new, very promising new methods of fighting prostate cancer. This is one of them. It seems particularly promising. Of course, this is only an early stage, and more research is needed to understand how this intriguing method works. Clinical trials should also be performed with a larger group of patients.
The results of the experiment were presented at the symposium on anti-cancer therapies in Munich.
Read about prostate cancer in Poland
PROSTATE CANCER-FACTS (British data)
There are 330 men in the UK who have or have had prostate cancer. The average age of patients diagnosed with this prostate cancer is 65–69 years. In the UK, 47 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. It is the most common type of cancer among men. One in eight Britons will hear this diagnosis in their lifetime. Black men are twice as likely to contract the disease. In this group, prostate cancer affects one in four people. Men whose fathers or brothers have prostate cancer, regardless of race, are more than twice as likely to have prostate cancer. Every year, prostate cancer kills 300 men – one an hour.
Source: The Daily Telegraph; 02.12.2016/XNUMX/XNUMX
Original article title: “Man ‘cured’ of prostate cancer after doctors shock tumor to death with testosterone”