Prostate cancer patients in a trial of Novacea’s DN-101 (Asentarâ„¢) plus Taxotere showed longer median survival and fewer serious side effects compared with patients who received Taxotere alone, a study has found. The large, randomized Phase 2 trial reports today that standard chemotherapy for metastatic androgen-independent prostate cancer (AIPC) was enhanced for patients who received DN-101 (Asentarâ„¢), which is a new formulation of high-strength vitamin D. The group that received the drug before each chemotherapy session showed some increase in survival. Those given the drug also had reduction of some common side effects of the chemotherapy and of advanced prostate cancer, notably, fewer blood clots. Full Story… read on.

Pertuzamab is a new targeted anti-cancer drug that blocks the human epidermal growth factor (HER) receptor family. It belongs to the class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies (MAbs). According to Dr. David Agus, a researcher involved in a Phase II study reported in this week’s Journal of Clinical Oncology, pertuzumab “shows promise” in extending the lives of patients with recurrent prostate cancer. Pertuzumab did not shrink tumors, though, nor lower PSA’s in any of the 41 “heavily pre-treated” patients enrolled in this trial. And in sixty percent it carried diarrhea as a side effect.

A handful of patients obtained months of stable disease. Comparing patients in this study with records of other patients who, like them, had already used up hormone blockade and taxane chemotherapy, Agus and his colleagues determined that for those who respond to it, pertuzumab extends survival. Full story … read more.

Meanwhile after a similar trial in the UK for men with hormone refractory prostate cancer the researchers declared pertuzumab a failure.

Feb. 18, 2007 — Noscapine, a non-addictive derivative of opium synthesized more than a century ago, has been used worldwide since the 1950’s as an anti-cough medication. Noscapine was originally proposed as an anti-cancer agent in the early 1960’s. This week a presentation at the 17th International Prostate Cancer Update Conference in Vail, CO. reported that in mice noscapine can reduce growth of prostate cancer tumors. A 15 page .pdf
article is available on noscapine’s “newly discovered use in treating cancer and stroke” Full story … read more

Caring for a partner with cancer may be one of the most testing and stressful experiences a person can have during their lifetime. An unspoken casualty of the cancer diagnosis can often be the loss of sex and intimacy between couples.

Now, an Australian study looks at the lives of cancer carers and how they negotiate issues surrounding sexuality and intimacy in the context of caring for a partner with cancer.
Full story… read more.

Medivation, Inc. (Amex: MDV) today announced that preclinical efficacy data on MDV3100, a novel small molecule the company is developing to treat hormone-refractory prostate cancer, will be presented later this month at the Prostate Cancer Symposium, a meeting sponsored by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. A clinical trial will be started this year to test safety, dose levels and side effects on small groups of men with hormone refractory prostate cancer.

Breast cancer researchers report that a variation in the gene caspase-8 (CASP8) may offer modest protection against the disease. This is the first common genetic variant to be definitively linked to breast cancer. Researchers many others will follow in the years ahead.

CASP8 is involved in programmed cell death, a defense mechanism that allows cells to commit suicide rather than develop into a tumor.

The variant found, One hypothesis about D302H is that the variant may enhance the body’s ability to clear cancerous cells.

February 7, 2007. More than ninety percent of men who receive “appropriate ” radiation dose levels with permanent radiation seed implants to treat their early-stage prostate cancer remain recurrence-free eight years after diagnosis, according to a study released in the February 1 issue of the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO.

“The only controllable factor to impact on long-term outcome,” the study states, “was the D90 which is a reflection of implant quality.” Whether the isotope used to achieve adequate dose was iodine 125 (I-125) or palladium 103 (P-103) “was not significant,” the study found. Full Story:
If Dose is Right, Radioactive Seed Implant for Early-Stage Prostate Cancer Has High Odds of Success