Entrez PubMed
Cancer Biol Ther. 2006 Jan 25;5(1) [Epub ahead of print]
Corticosteroid-Induced Chemotherapy Resistance in Urological Cancers.

Zhang C, et al. Molecular Urooncology, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.

Purpose: Glucocorticoids such as dexamethasone are widely used for medication of urological diseases, e.g., as cotreatment of advanced prostate cancer, to improve appetite, weight loss, fatigue, relieve bone pain, diminish ureteric obstruction, to reduce the production of adrenal androgens, as an antiemetic in patients undergoing chemo- and/or radiotherapy together with serving as “standard” therapy arm in randomized studies.

While the potent pro-apoptotic properties and the supportive effects of glucocorticoids to tumor therapy in lymphoid cells are well studied, the impact to growth of prostate and other urological carcinomas is unknown.

Methods: We isolated cells from surgical resections of 21 prostate tumors and measured apoptosis and viability in these primary cells and 17 established cell lines from human prostate, bladder, renal cell and testicular carcinomas.

Results: We found that dexamethasone induces resistance regarding exposure to several cytotoxic agents such as taxol, gemcitabine, cisplatin, 5-FU and gamma-irradiation in 86% of the freshly isolated prostate tumors and in 100% of the established urological cell lines.

No difference in dexamethasone-mediated protection was found in normal, benign and malignant prostate tumors.

Conclusions: These data show for the first time that dexamethasone induced therapy resistance in urological carcinomas is not the exception but a more common phenomenon and implicate that glucocorticoids may have two faces in cancer therapy, a beneficial and a dangerous one.

NOTE from psa-rising editor: This looks like a rather chilling early confirmation of a finding in breast cancer which we were concerned might apply also to prostate cancer. See:

Widely used anti-nausea drug, dexamethasone, may interfere with breast cancer chemotherapy

by J. Strax

Vitamin E and Prostate Cancer Benefits: Not Fully Resolved

BOSTON, Dec. 20 — The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently recommended against routine vitamin use to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. The recommendation was based on a series of clinical trials that found that antioxidant supplements do not reduce the risks of these diseases.

However, just a few weeks later, results from the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene (ATBC) Cancer Prevention Trial showed that men with high blood levels of alpha-tocopherol (a form of vitamin E) had a lower risk of prostate cancer, reports Harvard Men’s Health Watch.

“The ATBC research provides some support for vitamin E, but it’s not conclusive,” notes Dr. Harvey Simon, editor in chief of Harvard Men’s Health Watch. “Although it was a well-conducted clinical trial, its primary goal was to evaluate lung cancer. More important, all the subjects were smokers.”

A few other studies looked into this matter and found that vitamin E was not consistently beneficial in reducing the risk of prostate cancer in smokers and nonsmokers.

The relationship between vitamin E and prostate cancer has yet another complexity. Vitamin E consists of a family of chemicals known as tocopherols. Alpha-tocopherol
(full story…)