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A new approach to prostate cancer detection
March 26, 2009Sarcosine may distinguish between slow-growing and aggressive prostate cancers
On Friday 20 March, US researcher Dr. Chris Beecher from the University of Michigan gave a well attended lecture about sarcosine, an N-methyl derivative of the amino acid glycine, at the 24th Annual EAU Congress in Stockholm, Sweden. Dr Beecher is a colleague of lead author Dr. Arun Sreekumar. The research of Sreekumar, Beecher and their team looked at more than 1,000 small molecules in tissues associated with prostate cancer. These findings suggest that not only is sarcosine a marker of cancer aggressiveness, it also has a role in endowing a cancer with malignant properties.
Sreekumar's publication in Nature (457, 12 February 2009: 910-914) has attracted a lot of scientific and also popular attention. The EAU Scientific Congress Office inserted a special breaking news session in the congress programme in order to present the most updated scientific information in Stockholm.
Sarcosine may distinguish slow-growing prostate cancers from those likely to spread and become lethal. Conveniently, sarcosine can be identified in urine, a less invasive test than the blood analysis needed for the standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland. PSA is present in small quantities in the serum of healthy men, and is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer. Quite often men have PSA scores that fall into a grey area. Therefore, invasive biopsy is needed to clarify a diagnosis.
But even when a biopsy reveals cancer, it often remains unclear whether the cancer is aggressive and at risk of spreading, or indolent and likely to stay put. Rather than looking for genes or proteins, Dr. Arun Sreekumar and his team of the University of Michigan measured the levels of chemical by-products of the reaction inside the human cells. These chemicals are called metabolites. They looked into 42 tissue samples, 110 blood samples and the same number of urine samples from patients with advanced prostate cancer, early prostate cancer and men with benign disease. Ten of these chemicals were found at much higher levels in prostate cancer than normal samples. One of these metabolites stood out: sarcosine.
According to Dr. Beecher, the results are promising: "Sarcosine continues to predict the aggressiveness of the tumours". The metabolomic analysis yielded the observation that sarcosine was highly associated with tumour development. The scientific data support a correlation and provide biological insights.
European Association of Urology
Sarcosine may distinguish slow-growing prostate cancers from those likely to spread and become lethal. Conveniently, sarcosine can be identified in urine, a less invasive test than the blood analysis needed for the standard prostate-specific antigen (PSA), a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland. PSA is present in small quantities in the serum of healthy men, and is often elevated in the presence of prostate cancer. Quite often men have PSA scores that fall into a grey area. Therefore, invasive biopsy is needed to clarify a diagnosis.
But even when a biopsy reveals cancer, it often remains unclear whether the cancer is aggressive and at risk of spreading, or indolent and likely to stay put. Rather than looking for genes or proteins, Dr. Arun Sreekumar and his team of the University of Michigan measured the levels of chemical by-products of the reaction inside the human cells. These chemicals are called metabolites. They looked into 42 tissue samples, 110 blood samples and the same number of urine samples from patients with advanced prostate cancer, early prostate cancer and men with benign disease. Ten of these chemicals were found at much higher levels in prostate cancer than normal samples. One of these metabolites stood out: sarcosine.
According to Dr. Beecher, the results are promising: "Sarcosine continues to predict the aggressiveness of the tumours". The metabolomic analysis yielded the observation that sarcosine was highly associated with tumour development. The scientific data support a correlation and provide biological insights.
European Association of Urology
Prostate Cancer Current Events and Prostate Cancer News RSSCarnegie Mellon researchers link health-care debate to risk of dying in US and Europe
The current health care debate in the United States is complicated. Trade-offs between heath care expenditures, lifestyle choices and life expectancy have been suggested but seldom clearly demonstrated.
New finding suggests prostate biopsy is not always necessary
Researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and the University of Wisconsin-Madison have discovered that some elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in men may be caused by a hormone normally occurring in the body, and are not necessarily a predictor of the need for a prostate biopsy.
Does prostate-specific antigen velocity help in early detection prostate cancer?
The November issue of European Urology, the official journal of the European Association of Urology, features an article focussing on prostate specific antigen (PSA) velocity and early cancer detection. It has been suggested that changes in PSA over time aid prostate cancer detection.
New Synthetic Molecules Trigger Immune Response to HIV and Prostate Cancer
Researchers at Yale University have developed synthetic molecules capable of enhancing the body's immune response to HIV and HIV-infected cells, as well as to prostate cancer cells. Their findings, published online in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, could lead to novel therapeutic approaches for these diseases.
Chemo-radiation before prostate removal may prevent cancer recurrence
Researchers in the Oregon Health & Science University Knight Cancer Institute and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center have found a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy given before prostate removal is safe and may have the potential to reduce cancer recurrence and improve patient survival.
Blood vessels might predict prostate cancer behavior
A diagnosis of prostate cancer raises the question for patients and their physicians as to how the tumor will behave. Will it grow quickly and aggressively and require continuous treatment, or slowly, allowing therapy and its risks to be safely delayed?
Short-term hormone therapy and intermediate dose radiation increases survivial for early stage prostate cancer
Short-term hormone therapy given prior to and during intermediate dose radiation treatment for men with early stage prostate cancer increases their chance of living longer, compared to those who receive the same radiation alone.
Task force develops new radiation guidelines for brachytherapy
Radiation dose delivered to the prostate and nearby organs in every brachytherapy procedure should be carefully analyzed using post-implant CT or MRI and uniformly documented in every patient.
1 disease, not 1 demographic
The Asian continent has nearly four billion people living in 47 different countries, and each of these groups has their own unique set of health issues. But when they come to the United States, they're often lumped into one large demographic: "Asian/Pacific Islander."
Cancer survivors may not be getting the help they need to stop smoking
More than a quarter of cancer survivors who still smoke have not been advised to quit smoking by their health care providers in the last year, according to a study published by researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in the current issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
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