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  • Health & Medicine

MyProjects – Discovering new drugs for prostate cancer

by Kat Arney | Analysis

24 September 2010

5 comments 5 comments

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MyProjects

Choose the cancer you want to beat through MyProjects

MyProjects is an exciting new way to support our research into different types of cancer. Simply choose the cancer you want to beat, and directly donate to a project in that area.  And you can set up a Giving Group to raise money with friends, family or colleagues too.

In a new series of blog posts, we’ll be highlighting some of the researchers featured in MyProjects, starting with an important and urgently-needed project aimed at beating drug-resistant prostate cancer.

The dark side of testosterone

The sex hormone testosterone plays many roles in our bodies.  It helps make men into men, pumps up our libidos, and can even counteract osteoporosis. But it also has a dark side – testosterone can help fuel the growth of prostate cancer, the most common cancer in UK men.

Because of this, prostate cancer is often treated with drugs that stop testosterone working, preventing the cancer cells from growing. But unfortunately, this effect often wears off after years or even months, as the cancers develop resistance. It’s then known as hormone-refractory prostate cancer (HRPC), and is much more difficult to treat successfully.

Cancer Research UK-funded researcher Professor Simon Mackay is determined to change the odds for men with hormone-refractory prostate cancer. As part of our drug discovery initiative, his team is tackling this challenge by searching for ‘smart drugs’ that exploit subtle molecular differences that distinguish cancer cells from their healthy counterparts.

The scientists, based at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, are tapping into a wide range of sources to find molecules that could become the prostate cancer drugs of the future, including purifying promising chemicals from plants. Then they’re developing the best candidates further for testing in future clinical trials.

Here’s a short video about their work:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnJ5zAf1fBo]

Link to transcript

You can find out more about Professor Mackay’s research – as well as directly donating towards it – on our MyProjects site.

Kat


    Comments

  • claire jones
    29 January 2012

    why Is Is it that doctors from different areas have a different view on psa readings.I find this all very confusing.

    Also peoples view to you don’t die of prostate cancer, i find this very alarming that people are not aware of how serious It Is also a lot are not aware of where the prostate is, this I when talking to women.

    Im also surprised at how many people are scared of having a pas test.

    dose anyone share the same views.

    regards
    Claire

  • claire jones
    29 January 2012

    why Is It that doctors In different areas have different views on psa readings and say you dont die from prostrate cancer,I find this realy alarming, also when you tell people about your husband they have prostate cancer they say again you dont of it ,also some people are not aware of where there prostate Is.I have had comments re this.
    dose anyone else share the above.
    regards
    claire

  • peter bundock
    27 January 2012

    i did not have any symptoms of prostate cancer i had a routine blood test asv i had burning feet, doctor phoned me next day and said my p s a was high over 12. i had exam by urologist and had biopsy and they found i had cancer in prostate had hormone injections and radiotherapy finished dec 2010 am now in remmision p s a now 0.4 so a big thanks to everyone and i say keep on testing

  • claire jones
    24 January 2012

    Good Morning to you all.

    My husband has prostate cancer he has had his prostrate removed , it all happende on the 8th DEC.

    We are very very keen to get all doctors in the uk to have the same psa level for a biopsy to be the same.

    They seem to differ from county to county , we have a friend who lives in Sussex there view is psa of five needs to be looked at in depth, in Hampshire where we Are is so different , not to discuss at this stage.sorry.

    We`are coping very well, but it all has been very scary and we are making all are friends aware of it ,telling them to get a psa test, some have some think they are ok as they no symptoms, my husband didnt have symptoms.

    we feel very strongly about getting the government to do a yearly psa test, its only fair to the men out there as us women have are screenings.

    sorry I f I have rattled on.

    look forward to hearing from you.

    would love to raise money for the prostate cancer trust, when my husband is on better form we will do all we can to help.

    kind regards

    claire

  • reply
    Kat Arney
    25 January 2012

    Hi Claire,

    Thanks for your comment. We are sorry to hear about your husband and wish him a quick recovery.

    We completely understand your concern about PSA testing but the current situation is very tricky. At the moment, it is unclear whether screening otherwise healthy men for prostate cancer using the PSA test would save lives. Overall the current evidence suggests it could do more harm than good by missing some cancers and causing too many ‘false alarms’. There is more information about the problems with the PSA test on our CancerHelp UK website: http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/type/prostate-cancer/about/screening-for-prostate-cancer#alone

    However, we agree with you that this is an important issue, so we are funding research to try to find out more about how best to screen for prostate cancer as well as looking into new treatments for the disease. You can read about highlights of our prostate cancer research here: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerandresearch/ourcurrentresearch/researchbycancertype/prostateresearch

    Best wishes to you both,
    Kat

    Science Information Manager

  • lesley stratford
    6 December 2011

    My Partner passed away on 11th November. He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer two and a half years ago.
    I asked for donations to be made to prostate cancer research rather than send flowers. I have some cheques, where do I send them?

  • reply
    Kat Arney
    6 December 2011

    Hi Lesley,
    We’re very sorry to hear about your partner. Thank you so much for raising money for our research at this time.

    All the information you need about sending the cheques is on our website:
    http://supportus.cancerresearchuk.org/donate/more-ways-to-donate/donate-by-post/

    Thank you for your support and best wishes to you and your family,

    Kat
    Science Information Manager

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    Comments

  • claire jones
    29 January 2012

    why Is Is it that doctors from different areas have a different view on psa readings.I find this all very confusing.

    Also peoples view to you don’t die of prostate cancer, i find this very alarming that people are not aware of how serious It Is also a lot are not aware of where the prostate is, this I when talking to women.

    Im also surprised at how many people are scared of having a pas test.

    dose anyone share the same views.

    regards
    Claire

  • claire jones
    29 January 2012

    why Is It that doctors In different areas have different views on psa readings and say you dont die from prostrate cancer,I find this realy alarming, also when you tell people about your husband they have prostate cancer they say again you dont of it ,also some people are not aware of where there prostate Is.I have had comments re this.
    dose anyone else share the above.
    regards
    claire

  • peter bundock
    27 January 2012

    i did not have any symptoms of prostate cancer i had a routine blood test asv i had burning feet, doctor phoned me next day and said my p s a was high over 12. i had exam by urologist and had biopsy and they found i had cancer in prostate had hormone injections and radiotherapy finished dec 2010 am now in remmision p s a now 0.4 so a big thanks to everyone and i say keep on testing

  • claire jones
    24 January 2012

    Good Morning to you all.

    My husband has prostate cancer he has had his prostrate removed , it all happende on the 8th DEC.

    We are very very keen to get all doctors in the uk to have the same psa level for a biopsy to be the same.

    They seem to differ from county to county , we have a friend who lives in Sussex there view is psa of five needs to be looked at in depth, in Hampshire where we Are is so different , not to discuss at this stage.sorry.

    We`are coping very well, but it all has been very scary and we are making all are friends aware of it ,telling them to get a psa test, some have some think they are ok as they no symptoms, my husband didnt have symptoms.

    we feel very strongly about getting the government to do a yearly psa test, its only fair to the men out there as us women have are screenings.

    sorry I f I have rattled on.

    look forward to hearing from you.

    would love to raise money for the prostate cancer trust, when my husband is on better form we will do all we can to help.

    kind regards

    claire

  • reply
    Kat Arney
    25 January 2012

    Hi Claire,

    Thanks for your comment. We are sorry to hear about your husband and wish him a quick recovery.

    We completely understand your concern about PSA testing but the current situation is very tricky. At the moment, it is unclear whether screening otherwise healthy men for prostate cancer using the PSA test would save lives. Overall the current evidence suggests it could do more harm than good by missing some cancers and causing too many ‘false alarms’. There is more information about the problems with the PSA test on our CancerHelp UK website: http://cancerhelp.cancerresearchuk.org/type/prostate-cancer/about/screening-for-prostate-cancer#alone

    However, we agree with you that this is an important issue, so we are funding research to try to find out more about how best to screen for prostate cancer as well as looking into new treatments for the disease. You can read about highlights of our prostate cancer research here: http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/cancerandresearch/ourcurrentresearch/researchbycancertype/prostateresearch

    Best wishes to you both,
    Kat

    Science Information Manager

  • lesley stratford
    6 December 2011

    My Partner passed away on 11th November. He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer two and a half years ago.
    I asked for donations to be made to prostate cancer research rather than send flowers. I have some cheques, where do I send them?

  • reply
    Kat Arney
    6 December 2011

    Hi Lesley,
    We’re very sorry to hear about your partner. Thank you so much for raising money for our research at this time.

    All the information you need about sending the cheques is on our website:
    http://supportus.cancerresearchuk.org/donate/more-ways-to-donate/donate-by-post/

    Thank you for your support and best wishes to you and your family,

    Kat
    Science Information Manager