Was Linus Pauling wrong about Vitamin C?

PSA CHART

TIMELINE

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Standard Biopsies Miss 1 Out Of 7 Prostate Cancers, Study Says July 5 2001. In a test of twelve-snip "extended" biopsy technique, an Ohio State University urology team shows that standard six-snip biopsies miss clnically significant prostate cancers. Full story

Vitamin C produces gene-damaging compounds in test-tube June 20001 Read this controversial story and follow links to Linus Pauling Ph.D. by Peter Barry Chowka and a Lancet study, March 2001, that shows longer lives for people with high blood levels of vitamin C Full story

IL-2 Immunotherapy Curbs Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer May 24, 2001. UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center claims that Il-2 immunotherapy delivered via gene therapy may prove to be a potent weapon in the fight against locally advanced prostate cancer. UCLA clinical trials involve injecting gene-based immunotherapy -- using an ultrasound guidance system -- into the prostate before surgery or after failure of radiation therapy. Full story

Docetaxel, Estramustine and Low-Dose Hydrocortisone for Advanced Prostate Cancer -Multi-Centered Study Results
Combination chemotherapy for advanced prostate cancer using docetaxel (Taxotere®), estramustine phosphate (Emcyt®) and low-dose hydrocortisone looks promising, according to results of a Phase II trial by Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) now published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Full story

Blood Thinner, Heparin, Stops Cancer from Hiding from Immune System Under Platelet "Cloak"
March 12, 2001. A team in San Diego has made animated movies showing how a blood thinner, heparin, may reduce metastatic spread of some types of cancer. Full story

PC SPES, Herbal Compound, Lowers PSA in Men With Advanced Prostate Cancer, UCSF Study Finds
October 28, 2000 -- A mixture of herbs popular with some prostate cancer patients has been found to significantly reduce prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels -- a protein in the blood that often indicates prostate cancer -- in men with advanced disease, according to a University of California, San Francisco study. Full story

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Radiation Spares Erectile Function Better Than Prostate Surgery, Study Says
October 23, 2000 -- A man diagnosed with prostate cancer who is offered radiation therapy as a treatment option needs to know how it will affect his sex life compared with surgery or other choices. Full story

Twenty-eight Months Hormone Needed to Boost Radiation Therapy for Men With High Risk Prostate Cancer

Make it "standard of care" for locally advanced disease or high Gleason, RTOG says October 23, 2000 -- Long-term hormone treatment can prevent recurrence and improve survival for men who opt for radiation in locally advanced prostate cancer, a new study shows. The study by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group was the largest phase III prostate radiation treatment trial to date. Full story

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UCSF enrolling prostate and other patients for stem cell trial

5-Oct-2000 A new treatment for prostate cancer, kidney cancer and melanoma is being tried at UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center. Patients can enroll now if a sibling whose immune system matches their own will act as a stem cell donor. Full story

Rectal bleeding after radiation therapy for prostate cancer: check for other disease Tue Oct 3 2000. A team at Naval Medical Center San Diego and University of San Diego has looked at how often rectal bleeding occurs after radiation for prostate cancer, how often some other, serious condition causes it, and how much it affects patients. Full story

Hormone blockade makes radiation therapy more effective for early-stage prostate cancer Results similar to success in treating advanced-stage cancers BOSTON, September 13, 2000 -- Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) have found that combined radiation therapy (RT) and androgen suppression therapy (AST) is a more effective treatment for localized, early-stage prostate cancer compared to treatment using radiation therapy alone. The findings are published in the September 13th issue of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association). Full story

Tumor-Specific Antibody Works Without "Warhead" June 25, 2000. DURHAM, N.C. - A new monoclonal antibody that targets a mutated protein found only in cancer cells can eradicate tumors in mice without the aid of additional toxic substances, Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers report. Full story

Five Natural Cancer Fighter Proteins Identified June 23 2000. A UCSF-led team has identified five proteins in mice that trigger the immune system to attack cancer. The research greatly increases the number of known targets for drugs or vaccines to boost the immune system’s natural cancer-fighting ability, say the scientists. Full story

High Dose 3-D Radiation Better Than Expected For Aggressive Early Prostate Cancer Early-stage prostate cancer patients with high Gleason scores may benefit more from high doses of targetted radiation than previous reports would suggest, a new multicenter study led by University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers says. Full story

Exisulind, a SAAND Drug, Stabilizes Recurrent Prostate Cancer May 2, 2000 A new class of drugs called SAANDs may stabilize recurrent disease in patients with advanced prostate cancer, Columbia Presbyterian researchers say. They presented their results at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association. Full story

Advances in Blocking Pain From Cancer Spread to Bones Working in animal models, scientists have identified and disabled the cell that is chiefly responsible for causing bone cancer pain such as from advanced prostate cancer. Full story

Four Years Disease Free Indicates Cure, Radiation Study Claims Patients treated with radiation therapy, who are disease-free at four years, remain disease-free, a study published in the May issue of the journal Urology suggests. The research was done at Fox-Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. Full story

"Breathalyizer" Before Chemo to Help Avoid Toxic Shocks The FDA has fast-tracked a simple blow-hard test to make Taxotere (docetaxel) safer to take. Developed in North Carolina and Michigan, the test may help prostate cancer patients. Full story

hK2 Test for Organ-Confined Prostate Cancer A blood test to check whether prostate cancer is still confined within the gland is under development in Sweden and Germany. Full story

Preventing Nerve Damage (Neuropathy) from Taxanes and Platinum Chemo - New Drug in Trials
BioNumerik BNP7787. a chemoprotectant to prevent the common and often severe toxicities associated with platinum and taxane, looks promising in ongoing trials in Europe and the USA.Full story (For more on neuropathy see our articles on Thalidomide Trials and Thalidomide's history )

"Universal" Cancer Vaccine Tested in Lab on Prostate Cancer Cells
A prototype cancer vaccine using blood cells from prostate cancer patients and, for comparison, from healthy people looks, in the laboratory, to be effective. Researchers in San Diego and Paris tested the vaccine further on cells from four other cancers and say that it works on all of them. Full story

New Test, Tß15, Predicts Prostate Cancer Spread From Biopsy Sample Researchers and radiologists in Boston are developing a new test to predict which prostate cancers will become aggressive and need special attention early on. Full story

Early prostate cancer detected in molecular-based urine test
April 2, 2000 -- Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Pa. say prostate cancer can be detected in urine. The findings of a new study were presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research in San Francisco. Full story

Viagra Linked to Heart Attack in Fairly Young, Healthy Men
March 14, 2000. Viagra, effective for many men in restoring erectile function after prostate surgery or radiation, unfortunately appears to carry a risk of heart attack. New evidence from FDA reports indicates that men under sixty-five without previous heart problems are actually more at risk of dying after taking Viagra than are other men. Full story

Clinical Trials from Hell: In Alza's Viadur Study, Watching Testosterone Flare
For more than a decade doctors have known how to prevent disease flare in men started on LH-RH testosterone-blocking drugs. Why is FDA allowing drug companies testing new delivery methods for these drugs, such as the Alza 1-year implant, to just watch flare happen? This story is on Upfront. Full story

Free PSA Test Just as Effective for Black Men, Spares Biopsies
A review of data from a recent nationwide trial of the free prostate specific antigen test (fPSA) shows that this newer test is as accurate in revealing cancer risk in African American men as it is in Caucasians. "It also shows that many African-American men could be spared the expense and trauma of prostate biopsies," says Johns Hopkins urologist Alan W. Partin, M.D., Ph.D., co-leader of the research team. "Nearly 75 percent of the prostate biopsies that both black and white men get are unnecessary," Partin says. Full story

High Dose 3DC Radiation Raises 5-yr Cure Rates
Prostate cancer patients who opt for radiation and are good candidates for radiation will have a higher cure rate if they are treated with higher doses of radiation, a new study shows. Published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, the study was conducted at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, PA. We have the statistical breakdown of results. Full story