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Radiation Plus Hormone Therapy Cuts Prostate Cancer Deaths Men with locally advanced prostate cancer -- cancer that has spread beyond the wall of the prostate gland -- who undergo radiation plus long-term hormone treatment cut their risk of dying in half, a new study has found. The addition of radiotherapy kept patients healthy much longer, the Swedish research team concluded. In fact, by adding radiotherapy, men's overall survival was increased by 10 percent with only a modest increase in the risk of radiation-related side effects. "The study will change practice in the treatment of locally advanced or local aggressive prostate cancer," said lead researcher Dr. Anders Widmark, from the department of radiation sciences and oncology at Umeå University. "These patients should be offered the addition of local radiation treatment." At least one American expert agreed. "This study just proves what we have suspected for a long time -- namely, that both treatments are needed to get the best results," said Dr. Anthony D'Amico, chief of radiation oncology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The report is published in the Dec. 16 online edition of The Lancet. In this trial, 875 men with locally advanced prostate cancer were randomly assigned to receive either the drug flutamide (Eulexin), to block androgens (male hormones), or hormone therapy along with radiation. Androgens are thought to encourage the spread of prostate cancer, so blocking their effect is a common prostate cancer treatment. Over an average follow-up of almost eight years, 79 men who received hormone treatment alone died, compared with 37 men who received hormone treatment plus radiation, Widmark's group found. After 10 years, 23.9 percent of the men in the hormone therapy-only group had died from prostate cancer compared with 11.9 percent of the men in the combined treatment group. In addition, death from any cause was higher in the hormone therapy-only group, (39.4 percent) than in the combined treatment group (29.6 percent), the researchers found. Moreover, fewer men in the combined treatment group saw a return of their cancer (26 percent) than did men in the hormone-only group (75 percent). The addition of local treatment with radiotherapy improves survival, Widmark concluded. "These patients are highly curable -- only 10 percent will die of prostate cancer within 10 years," he said. "They should not give up." Dr. Chris Parker, from the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton, Surrey, UK, and author of an accompanying editorial in the journal, said that combined radiation and hormone therapy should become standard treatment for men with locally advanced prostate cancer. "This is a pivotal trial that for the first time demonstrates that radiotherapy improves survival of men with high-risk localized and locally advanced prostate cancer," Parker said. "It is no longer acceptable to regard hormone therapy alone as standard of care." D'Amico agreed, noting that most U.S. doctors already provide combo therapy as standard treatment for men with locally advanced prostate cancer. "Combined treatment with radiation and hormonal therapy is necessary to get the best overall survival in men with locally advanced prostate cancer," he said. "The study nails that home." More information To learn more about preventing stroke, visit the American Cancer Society Phenols in Quality Olive Oil Suppress Breast Cancer Gene Spanish researchers have identified anti-cancer chemicals in extra-virgin olive oil that may help explain the apparent link between eating an olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet and a reduced risk of breast cancer. Extra-virgin olive oil, which is produced by pressing olives without the use of heat or chemical treatments, contains phytochemicals that are otherwise lost in the refining process. The Spanish researchers separated extra-virgin olive oil into fractions and tested these against breast cancer cells in the lab. They found that all the fractions that contained major extra-virgin phytochemical polyphenols (lignans and secoiridoids) effectively inhibited the breast cancer gene HER2. The study was published in current issue of BMC Cancer. "Our findings reveal for the first time that all major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress overexpression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells," Javier Menendez, of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, said in a BioMed Central news release. While the study results offer new insights into how extra-virgin olive oil may help reduce HER2 breast cancer risk, the findings must be viewed with caution. "The active phytochemicals [i.e. lignans and secoiridoids] exhibited tumoricidal effects against cultured breast cancer cells at concentrations that are unlikely to be achieved in real life by consuming olive oil," the researchers noted. However, they also said their findings, "together with the fact that humans have safely been ingesting significant amounts of lignans and secoiridoids as long as they have been consuming olives and extra-virgin oil, strongly suggest that these polyphenols might provide an excellent and safe platform for the design of new anti-breast cancer drugs." More information To learn more about preventing stroke, visit the breast cancer prevention. Exercise Keeps the Brain Young In experiments in mice, exercise appears to reverse the decline in the production of brain stem cells usually seen with aging, Taiwanese researchers report. This remarkable restoration of the brain's ability to stave off aging appears to be due to exercise's ability to restore a neurochemical that is essential for the production of new brain cells. "As we age, the ability of producing new neurons is decreasing. However, moderate running can improve the production, survival and maturation of new neurons in the brain," said lead researcher Yu-Min Kuo, an associate professor in the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy at the National Cheng Kung University Medical College in Tainan. "The younger one starts to run, the better." The report is published in the November issue of the Journal of Applied Physiology. For the study, Kuo's team trained young, adult, middle-aged and old mice to run on a treadmill for up to an hour a day. The researchers then looked at the ability of the brain to continue to produce neural cells. In middle-aged mice, the number of neural progenitor and mitotic cells in the hippocampus, a brain region intimately associated with learning and memory, decreased dramatically, Kuo explained. "Compared to the sedentary middle-aged mice, moderate treadmill running not only doubled the production of neural stem cells but also enhanced the survival and growth of the newborn neurons," Kuo said. "Running had a more pronounced effect on younger animals than older counterparts." The researchers found that this phenomenon could not be explained by an increase in a hormone called corticosterone, as they had speculated. Rather, moderate running increased the concentrations of brain-derived neuron growth factor and its receptor, TrkB, in the hippocampus, while the level of corticosterone in mice stayed constant, Kuo said. "The production of neural stem cells in the hippocampus decreases dramatically by middle age, and moderate running exercise can slow this trend," Kuo said. "Chronic moderate running enhances the production of neurotrophic factor, which promotes neurogenesis, and the differentiation and survival of newborn neurons." Paul Sanberg, director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair, concurs that exercise could promote the growth of new brain stem cells in people. "This provides more understanding of its potential in humans," Sanberg said. "That there is a significant effect in middle-aged animals suggests that in middle-aged people that this would also occur." There needs to be more data in humans to see if the growth of new brain cells has an effect on cognitive ability, Sanberg noted. "But it's encouraging the continued use of exercise to maintain health and proper health of our brain," he said. For more information on the aging brain, visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging. HealthDayNews articles are derived from various sources and do not reflect federal policy. 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