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LOS ANGELES – Dennis Hopper has been diagnosed with prostate cancer and is canceling all travel plans to focus on treatment. Manager Sam Maydew says the 73-year-old actor and artist is being treated through a "special program" at the University of Southern California. Asked about Hopper's prognosis, Maydew said, "We're hoping for the best."

The American Cancer Society, which has long been a staunch defender of most cancer screening, is now saying that the benefits of detecting many cancers, especially breast and prostate, have been overstated. It is quietly working on a message, to put on its Web site early next year, to emphasize that screening for breast and prostate cancer and certain other cancers can come with a real risk of overtreating many small cancers while missing cancers that are deadly... --snip-- The new analysis — by Dr. Laura Esserman, a professor of surgery and radiology at the University of California, San Francisco,...

Could a virus be the cause of chronic fatigue syndrome? A study published last week in the journal Science... --snip-- Further testing after the paper was written found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with the syndrome, Dr. Mikovits said. --snip-- The study received a mixed review from Dr. William C. Reeves, who directs public health research on the syndrome at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He called the research exciting but preliminary, and said he was surprised that a prestigious journal like Science had published it, because the researchers did not state the...

Prostate cancer pathogen may be behind the disease once dubbed 'yuppie flu'. A study on chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has linked the mysterious and controversial disease to a recently discovered retrovirus. Just last month researchers found the same virus to be associated with aggressive prostate tumours.Chronic fatigue syndrome is seen as a serious but poorly defined disease.PUNCHSTOCK CFS is marked by debilitating exhaustion and often an array of other symptoms, including memory and concentration problems and painful muscles and joints. The underlying cause of the disease is unknown; it is diagnosed only when other physical and psychiatric diseases have been...

Petraeus Has Prostate Cancer By ERIC SCHMITT Published: October 5, 2009 WASHINGTON — Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American military forces in the Middle East, received a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer in February but has undergone “successful” radiation treatment to deal with the illness, according to a statement issued late Monday. Stephen Crowley/The New York Times Gen. David H. Petraeus, the commander of American military forces in the Middle East, at the Newseum in Washington last week. He received a diagnosis of early-stage prostate cancer in February. General Petraeus, 56, who as head of the United States...

Toronto researchers have developed a portable device they say will accurately diagnose prostate cancer in 30 minutes. The microchip technology, created by a pair of University of Toronto scientists, will be able to determine the severity of the tumours through a simple urine sample and produce quick diagnosis with no need for painful biopsies. Now heading into the engineering stage, a BlackBerry-sized device should be available for doctors' use within two to three years and eventually could be tuned to detect a broad range of cancers and infectious ailments, the researchers say. "The goal would be to produce a result...

A small molecule earlier found to have both anti-fat and anti-cancer abilities works as a literal turnoff for fat-making genes, according to a new report in the August 28th issue of the journal Chemistry and Biology, a Cell Press journal. The chemical blocks a well known master controller of fat synthesis, a transcription factor known as SREBP. That action in mice that are genetically prone to obesity causes the animals to become leaner. It also lowers the amount of fat in their livers, along with their blood sugar and cholesterol levels. "We are frankly very excited about it," said Salih...

Late last week, Conservative Member of the European Parliament, Daniel Hannan, appeared on Fox News. His statement that the US should not attempt to create a new health care system, based on the British model of the National Health Service (NHS), ignited a firestorm in England. On Friday morning, the British airwaves and print media, not to mention the blogosphere, went into overdrive with comments which amounted to a national self examination verging on a societal inquisition. Full marks to Steven Glover for his analysis in The Daily Mail. He wrote what most Brits would categorize as “the bleeding obvious.”...

Reform: If the world's most famous physicist, Stephen Hawking, is a shining example of British health care, how is it that others in the U.K. are repeatedly denied critical care and medicine?In commenting on efforts to overhaul American's health care system, we have tried to pull back the curtain and pay attention to those trying to clone the systems of Canada and Britain. But supporters of government-run health care frequently ignore some of the less-pleasant facts. Much has been made of this statement in one of our Aug. 3 editorials: "People such as scientist Stephen Hawking wouldn't have a chance...

Why do the British lag behind American survival rates? Screening standards are different. In the United States, internists recommend that men 50 and older get screened for colon cancer; in the National Health Service in the United Kingdom, screening begins at 75. And British patients wait much longer to see specialists. A Clinical Oncology study of British lung cancer treatment found in 2000 that 20% "of potentially curable patients became incurable on the waiting list." Novel drugs offered here often aren't available there; for instance, Avastin, a drug for advanced colon cancer, is prescribed more often in the U.S. than...

August 07, 2009, 0:00 a.m. Government Medicine KillsThe U.K. and Canada prove it. By Deroy Murdock Imagine that your two best friends are British and Canadian tobacco addicts. The Brit battles lung cancer. The Canadian endures emphysema and wheezes as he walks around with clanging oxygen canisters. You probably would not think: “Maybe I should pick up smoking.� The fact that America is even considering government medicine is equally wacky. The state guides health care for our two closest allies: Great Britain and Canada. Like us, these are prosperous, industrial, Anglophone democracies. Nevertheless, compared to America, they suffer higher...

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd underwent surgery for prostate cancer on Tuesday and was recuperating at a New York hospital. Dr. Peter Scardino of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center said the surgery was successful and Dodd was resting comfortably. "It is anticipated that he will be able to return to full activity within a few weeks," Scardino said in a statement released by Dodd's office. Dodd, 65, is expected to remain at the hospital for a few days before returning home to Connecticut. The five-term Democrat announced last month that he had been diagnosed with an early, treatable stage of cancer. He...

Health Care: There might not be a "death panel," as Sarah Palin described it, but federal bureaucrats will be making end-of-life decisions. That's why state-run medicine is a leading cause of death in Britain and Canada.A post on the former Alaska governor's Facebook page has caused a stir by discussing openly what many privately fear and something we have written about. End-of-life counseling and efforts to measure cost-effectiveness of treatment will combine in a perfect storm to ration care in a way that lets the government decide who lives and who dies. "The America I know and love is not...

Per MSNBC

U.S. Senator Christopher Dodd has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer. Dodd is scheduled to undergo surgery during the Senate's August recess and said he expects to be back at work after a "brief recuperation" at home. "It's something that's very common among men my age,'' said Dodd, who is 65 and the father of two young daughters. "In fact, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point during their life.''

WASHINGTON – Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer and intends to have surgery early in August, his office said Friday. Dodd intends to be back at work when Congress reconvenes in September, according to an e-mail his office circulated to fellow senators. The AP obtained a copy. Aides also said the diagnosis would not affect Dodd's plans to seek a sixth term in 2010.

News conference 2PM Eastern.

POLITICO Breaking News: ----------------------------------------------------- Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has told the Hartford Courant that he has early-stage prostate cancer. For more information...http://www.politico.com

Two prostate cancer patients who had been told their condition was inoperable are now cancer-free as the result of an experimental therapy, the Mayo Clinic in Rochester announced today. “We were all pretty shocked,” says Dr. Eugene Kwon, an immunologist and urologist at Mayo and leader of the clinical trial in which the experimental therapy was being used. “These results were far beyond anything we ever envisioned.” The two patients had a particular subset of prostate cancer that is very aggressive and deadly. Unlike most prostate cancer, which grows slowly and usually remains confined to the prostate gland, aggressive forms...

Experimental drug saves two men with inoperable prostate cancer By FIONA MACRAE 21st June 2009 Two men with inoperable prostate cancer have made dramatic recoveries after being given a single dose of an experimental drug. Both men are now cancer-free and their doctors say their progress has exceeded all their expectations. Dr Eugene Kwon, of the respected Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, said: 'This is one of the Holy Grails of prostate cancer research. We have been looking for this for many years.' Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in British men, with nearly 35,000 cases a year, 10,000 deaths...

For patients with prostate cancer, it is a common surgical procedure: a doctor implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the disease. But when Dr. Gary D. Kao treated one patient at the veterans’ hospital in Philadelphia, his aim was more than a little off. Most of the seeds, 40 in all, landed in the patient’s healthy bladder, not the prostate. It was a serious mistake, and under federal rules, regulators investigated. But Dr. Kao, with their consent, made his mistake all but disappear. He simply rewrote his surgical plan to match the number of seeds in the prostate, investigators...

Learning you have prostate cancer is bad enough, but then to be told that your condition is inoperable can be devastating. That’s where Rodger Nelson found himself. He and his wife Carol were wintering in California. Doctors there made the diagnosis, but it wasn’t until he decided to return home to Minnesota for treatment that he was told an experimental therapy was his best option. “I arrived Tuesday and was told my surgery was scheduled for Friday,” says Nelson. “But when the final test came back late on Thursday, I was told the surgery was cancelled.” MRIs had shown the...

According to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, men with prostate cancer who consumed the active compounds in green tea demonstrated a significant reduction in serum markers predictive of prostate cancer progression. Green tea is the second most popular drink in the world, and some epidemiological studies have shown health benefits with green tea, including a reduced incidence of prostate cancer, according to Cardelli. However, some human trials have found contradictory results. The few trials conducted to date have evaluated the clinical efficacy of green tea consumption and few studies have evaluated the change in biomarkers, which...

Studies Cast Doubt on Usefulness of Common Test for Disease Men are being urged to carefully consider risks before undergoing prostate cancer screening in the wake of two large, long-awaited studies that did not produce convincing evidence that routine testing significantly reduces the chance of dying from the disease. The PSA blood test, which millions of men undergo each year, did not lower the death toll from the disease in the first decade of a U.S. government-funded study involving more than 76,000 men, researchers reported yesterday. The second study, released simultaneously, was a European trial involving more than 162,000 men......

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Don Imus announced on his radio show this morning that he has stage II prostate cancer. The 68-year-old Imus made the surprise announcement on his radio show at around 7:30 a.m.

Oncologists who treat prostate cancer have long been frustrated by a quagmire: They know they treat many men whose disease won't harm them, but at the same time they fail to catch aggressive cases that kill. There's no good way to separate the two right now, but in tomorrow's issue of Nature, a team at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, suggests a new strategy: Look for specific chemicals in urine that could distinguish among patients with no sign of disease, disease that isn't critical to treat, and disease that's most dangerous. Researchers have poured tremendous energy into early cancer...

NOTTINGHAM, England, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Men who had frequent sex and masturbation in their 20s and 30s are more likely to develop prostate cancer, British researchers said. The study of 800 men, published in BJU International, also found that frequent sexual activity in a man's 40s appears to have little effect and even small levels of activity in a man's 50s could offer protection from the disease. However, most of the differences were attributed to masturbation rather than sexual intercourse, the study said.

Glasgow, Scotland Amid tight security, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the man convicted of murdering 270 innocent people on an airliner that was downed by explosive device over Scotland in 1988, was rushed to hospital in Glasgow on Friday from Barlinnie Prison for unknown ailments. Ushered in through a rarely used “Decontamination Entrance Room” at the hospital, the terrorist was whisked down the hospital’s corridors with a SWAT team-like escort. The Decontamination Room in the hospital is specially designed with state of the art equipment to decontaminate victims of NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) attack. The entrance was used for security...

Randomized Trials of Antioxidant Supplementation for Cancer PreventionFirst Bias, Now Chance—Next, Cause Peter H. Gann, MD, ScD JAMA. 2009;301(1):(doi:10.1001/jama.2008.863). In 1996, a wave of hope arose when the Nutritional Prevention of Cancer trial reported a 65% reduction in prostate cancer incidence in men receiving selenium supplementation.1 This came only 2 years after the ATBC (-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene) Cancer Prevention Trial had reported a 35% reduction in prostate cancer occurrence among men taking vitamin E supplements.2 Suddenly, it appeared to make sense that this cancer could be prevented by bolstering antioxidant defenses in middle-aged and older men. Prostate cancer was not...

In a move that could lead to significant changes in medical care for older men, a national task force on Monday recommended that doctors stop screening men ages 75 and older for prostate cancer because the search for the disease in this group was causing more harm than good. The guidelines, issued by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, represent an abrupt policy change by an influential panel that had withheld any advice regarding screening for prostate cancer, citing a lack of reliable evidence. Though the task force still has not taken a stand on the value of screening in...

Drug for deadly prostate cancer Aggressive prostate cancer has a poor prognosis Scientists are hailing a new drug to treat aggressive prostate cancer as potentially the most significant advance in the field for 70 years. Abiraterone could potentially treat up to 80% of patients with a deadly form of the disease resistant to currently available chemotherapy, they say. The drug works by blocking the hormones which fuel the cancer. The Institute of Cancer Research hopes a simple pill form will be available in two to three years. We believe we have made a major step forward in the treatment...

Scientists have used a common cold virus to "light up" prostate cancer tumours in different parts of the body. It could make it easier for doctors to track the spread of the disease, and check the effectiveness of treatment. A University of California at Los Angeles team found the virus "infected" prostate cancer cells in mice, then made them visible to scanners.

LONDON (Reuters) - Just a few more portions of broccoli each week may protect men from prostate cancer, British researchers reported on Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT The researchers believe a chemical in the food sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors, said Richard Mithen, a biologist at Britain's Institute of Food Research.

For the first time, leading prostate cancer specialists say, they have a drug that can significantly cut men’s risk of developing the disease, dropping the incidence by 30 percent. But the discovery, arising from a new analysis of a large federal study, comes with a debate: Should men take the drug? Prostate cancer is unlike any other because it is relatively slow-growing and while it can kill, it often is not lethal. In fact, most leading specialists say, a major problem is that men are getting screened, discovering they have cancers that may or may not be dangerous, and opting...

PORTLAND, Ore. – In a multi-site study, Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have found that a drug called Ipilimumab, also known as MDX-010, works to stimulate the body's own immune system to fight prostate cancer. The drug was found to be effective in study participants with a serious type of prostate cancer – one where the tumor has spread and was resistant to hormonal treatment and, in some cases, also to chemotherapy. Darryl Pape was one of 19 participants in the Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute trial. "I was in such bad shape. I couldn't...

Prostate Cancer Can Be Halted With Anti-inflammatory And Statin Used In Tandem, Study Suggests ScienceDaily (Apr. 14, 2008) — Researchers at Rutgers' Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy have shown that administering a combination of the widely used drugs Celebrex (celecoxib, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) and Lipitor (atorvastatin, a cholesterol lowering drug) stops the transition of early prostate cancer to its more aggressive and potentially fatal stage. Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States, with more than a quarter-million new cases appearing each year, according to the American Cancer Society. The findings...

NEW YORK – Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani says God is a very important part of his life. "I believe in God. I pray to God, and I pray to Jesus for guidance, help,” Giuliani said in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network. “I have very, very strong views on religion that come about from having wanted to be a priest when I was younger, having studied theology for four years in college.” The former New York mayor said he feels God’s help when “in crisis and under pressure like Sept. 11, when I was dealing with prostate cancer, or...

Eating more cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower is associated with a reduced risk of aggressive prostate cancer. Several studies have demonstrated an association between eating vegetables and a reduced risk of prostate cancer, but study results have not been consistent and many have not investigated the association among patients with aggressive prostate cancer. Victoria Kirsh, Ph.D., of Cancer Care Ontario in Toronto and colleagues evaluated the possible association in 1,338 prostate cancer patients diagnosed in the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial. Each of the men completed a 137-item food-frequency questionnaire. They found that eating fruits and...

Turning Stem Cells Taken From Fat Tissue Into Personalized, Cancer-targeted Therapeutics Researchers in Slovakia have been able to derive mesenchymal stem cells from human adipose, or fat, tissue and engineer them into "suicide genes" that seek out and destroy tumors like tiny homing missiles. This gene therapy approach is a novel way to attack small tumor metastases that evade current detection techniques and treatments, the researchers conclude in the July 1 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "These fat-derived stem cells could be exploited for personalized cell-based therapeutics," said the study's lead investigator,...

The most common category of cancer may not be what you think it is. It's not breast cancer -- that's number three. And lung cancer is number two. With 218,000 new cases expected in 2007, number one is prostate cancer. This cancer is not just striking retired men. "The fact is prostate cancer happens most commonly to men in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. In other words, it occurs while men are at work." Surgeon Arnon Krongrad says those busy men often overlook the importance of getting tested. That means getting what's known as a PSA test. It measures blood...

Public release date: 15-May-2007 Contact: Liz Savage jncimedia@oxfordjournals.org 301-841-1287 Journal of the National Cancer Institute Heavy multivitamin use may be linked to advanced prostate cancer The embargo has been lifted at the request of the submitting PIO. While regular multivitamin use is not linked with early or localized prostate cancer, taking too many multivitamins may be associated with an increased risk for advanced or fatal prostate cancers, according to a study in the May 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Millions of Americans take multivitamins because of a belief in their potential health benefits, even though...

The skin’s ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is controlled by a variety of genes. A new study from Harvard Medical School published in the May 4 issue of Cell, however, identifies a “master regulator” of this regeneration process not only for skin, but for many epithelial tissues including breast, prostate, and urogenital tract. The skin’s ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is controlled by a variety of genes. A new study from Harvard Medical School published in the May 4 issue of Cell, however, identifies a “master regulator” of this regeneration process not only for...

American Prostate Cancer Initiative is a Division of American Prostate Initiative, Inc. a 501(c)(3) not for profit corporation registered in NY.  Federal ID # 75-3193832

(WebMD) An experimental blood test for prostate cancer seems to work better than the current PSA test — and can tell whether the cancer is spreading. The new test looks for a protein called EPCA-2, early prostate cancer antigen 2. Unlike the PSA (prostate-specific antigen) protein on which the current PSA test is based, this protein isn't found in normal prostate cells. Instead, EPCA-2 occurs in relatively large amounts only in prostate cancer cells. The test is being developed by Robert H. Getzenberg, Ph.D., director of urology research at Johns Hopkins University's Brady Urological Institute. Getzenberg began the work while...

Contact: Jennifer Chan chanj@usc.edu 323-442-2830 University of Southern California A study led by researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) and Harvard Medical School has identified seven genetic risk factors—DNA sequences carried by some people but not others—that predict risk for prostate cancer. According to the study's findings, these risk factors are clustered in a single region of the human genome on chromosome 8 and powerfully predict a man's probability of developing prostate cancer. The paper will be published in the online edition of Nature Genetics on April 1. "The study has identified...

Broccoli and tomato -- two vegetables known to help fight cancer -- are more effective against prostate cancer if they're eaten together as part of a daily diet than if they're eaten alone, a new study with rats suggests.University of Illinois researchers fed a diet containing 10 percent broccoli powder and 10 percent tomato powder to a group of rats that had been implanted with prostate cancer cells. Other groups of rats received either tomato powder or broccoli powder alone; a supplemental dose of lycopene (the red pigment in tomatoes believed to be an anti-cancer agent); or finasteride, a drug...

Fifteen years ago, Irwin Richardt was asked this question as he sat in the kitchen of his sagging clapboard house with no heat, little plumbing and only one room with electricity. "Who will take care of you when you get too sick or too old to work?" "My neighbors. That's the way God intended it to be." Richardt said this with absolute confidence. It was how the old farmer spoke. In slogans and dogmatic truths. Strong words from a slight, soft-eyed man with a thinning white ponytail. The question was asked as Richardt explained why he chose to live like...

A genetic "roadmap" will help to find treatments for diseases, by looking at the signatures that drugs leave behind. A newly developed genetic "roadmap" promises to streamline the drug discovery process. Called the Connectivity Map, this public database matches drug compounds with diseased cells and the processes occurring within them. "The reason it's so difficult to find those disease and drug connections is that the languages in which they are conventionally described are very different," says Justin Lamb, senior scientist at the Broad Institute in Cambridge, MA. "A physician would describe a disease in terms of its physical symptoms, whereas...

The PSA test, used to screen men for detecting prostate cancer has been declared all but useless by a pioneer in the procedure. Stanford University School of Medicine professor Dr. Thomas Stamey said "The PSA era is over in the United States." Dr. Stamey and colleagues examined more than 1,300 prostate tissue samples removed by urologists at Stanford over the past 20 years. Researchers divided the data from the samples into four five-year periods between 1983 and 2004. They found a substantial decrease in the connection between PSA levels and the amount of prostate cancer over time. In the first...

Risky Legacy: African DNA linked to prostate cancer Ben Harder The high rate of prostate cancer among African American men may result in large part from a newly identified stretch of DNA passed down from their African ancestors. A black man's odds of developing prostate cancer by age 55 are more than twice those of a white man. The racial discrepancy is less pronounced when the disease appears later. Researchers have suspected for years that genetic factors account for part of the racial difference in risk. Most African Americans have both African and European forebears, so their chromosomes are mosaics...