In a recently published article in the Journal EBioMedicine,
researchers reported they were able to identify five distinct types of prostate
cancer. The team took both healthy and cancerous prostate tissue from 259 men
and looked for abnormal chromosomes and measured the activity of 100 genes known
to be linked to prostate cancer.
This prostate cancer study is a preliminary step in being
able to identify which newly diagnosed cancers need immediate treatment and
which are slow growing and can be safely observed instead of starting radical
treatments immediately. This would help avoid too much treatment and make sure
treatment was immediately available for the most aggressive cancers. Early stage
have shown that doctors were better able to identify rapid growing, aggressive
tumors than when using the PSA and Gleason Grading system.
The study authors did not actually list the five types of
prostate cancer. When this information becomes available I will publish it
here.
A similar study
several years ago identified ten unique types of breast cancer and those
results have been helpful in the early treatment of aggressive breast cancers.
Is this likely to help those of us who already have prostate
cancer? Probably not. But hopefully future diagnoses will be more accurate,
treatment more targeted, and results better.
Disclaimer
Many studies claim to be game changers, breakthroughs, and
cutting edge. This is true sometimes and other times results are less than
hoped for. We’ll wait and see what happens with further study.
axman
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