Next meeting and ‘coffee morning’

The next members’ meeting will be on January 11 when Amar Challapalli from the Bristol Haematology and Oncology Centre will present on Radiotherapy in Prostate Cancer. The Zoom talk will cover the history of and new developments in PCa Radiotherapy. Joining details later. The next Zoom ‘coffee morning’ is on December 3 (10-noon). Information by email beforehand. New patients and current members are all welcome. New patients can contact us via Contact us (above) or our Tackle helpline (0800 035 5302). The planned dates for next year’s walks are April 8 (Ashton Court) and Oct 8 (Lansdown).

Dave Prowse dies

Bristolian Dave Prowse (Darth Vader and the Green Cross Code man), who was diagnosed with PCa 11 years ago, has died at the age of 85.

Good news re Oliparb

Oliparb has given new hope to men with incurable PCa, says the Daily Mail in this article.

Thanks from Connie

Constance Shiridzinomwa, a urology research nurse at Southmead, has thanked Prospect for the support she received when she started her Masters degree in 2017. Some members took part in her study. She has published her findings and here is the link to her article.

Free creative writing course: new dates

December 8 deadline. There were not enough ’takers’ for the November creative writing course run by Southmead Hospital social prescribing programme, Arts on Referral, on Zoom. These are run regularly for patients who have experienced cancer or are still on treatment. No experience is necessary; it is about creating time for patients to take part in a safe, supportive group, tap into their creativity, and meet others in a similar situation. The next programme will be on Mondays and the deadline for return of the referral forms (available here) is December 8. A Zoom technical taster for patients is on December 17 at noon and the Zoom programme runs: 10am–noon from January 4 to February 8. Donna Baber, the Arts Programme Manager, can take referrals from patients in Bristol, Bath, S Glos, N Somerset and Glos. She is on 07554 334 828, donna.baber@nbt.nhs.uk or fresh.arts@nbt.nhs.uk

Name changed and a new look

Prostate Cancer Research Centre has dropped the “Centre” from its title and has a new logo. More here

Help with PCa UK website

Prostate Cancer UK seek PCa patients to help them evaluate how people find their way around their health information on their website. To register interest in helping go to

‘Nanoparticles kill cancer’

Scientists have created a “Trojan horse” that sneaks nanoparticles into cancer cells and causes them to self-destruct. The research is still in its early days, but the new method has already proved to be effective at killing cancer cells in a petri dish and reducing tumour growth in mice. See more

Cancer blood test trialled

A new blood test which might be able to detect 50 cancers is being trialled by the NHS. More here. And two professors have made a discovery that could turn cancer into a treatable disease (Sept ’20). See more here. And minscule robots can seek out cancer.cells and destroy them More here

Referrals hit by Covid

Prostate cancer referrals halved since lockdown as thousands of men put off seeing their GP, the Daily Mail reported. 27,000 fewer men have been referred to a specialist with suspected cases compared with the same period last year, according to analysis of official NHS data by Prostate Cancer UK. Urgent GP referrals for PCa have plunged to their lowest level in 10 years due to the  impact of Covid-19 (Sept ’20). More here

Check your risk in 30 seconds!

An online 30-second risk checker has been launched which men are encouraged to take –  see here And a Prostate Cancer Research team are using machine learning to develop a new way to classify PCa and separate the “tigers” from the “pussycats” (Sept ’20). More here And a US study demonstrated the highest accuracy to date in recognising and characterising PCa using artificial intelligence (July ’20). More here Also a new blood test for PCa is producing 99% accuracy – the best yet. More here And a new 15-minute ‘game-changing’ test is announced here

Abiraterone plea heard; deaths up

NICE appeal: NICE agreed to an appeal by Prostate Cancer UK to reverse its decision to restrict abiraterone for advanced PCa (Jul ’20). See more here. UK deaths from PCa exceeded 12,000 in 2019 for the first time and it overtook breast cancer as the most common cancer (June ’20). See more here. But the UK death rate from this cancer is expected to fall by nearly 10 per cent in 2020. See more here  And a new type of immune cell which kills most cancers has been discovered. More info here  Screening: An expert explained why finding a suitable method is vital but is difficult. See more here

Tackle’s new support manager

Sarah Gray is Tackle’s new National Support and Development Manager on a 3-year project funded by the National Lottery. The project is to support groups across England and work with healthcare professionals to set up new groups.

Hormone treatment and Covid-19

Hormone treatment might offer some protection from Covid-19, it’s reported. See more here And it can make PCa worse, this study finds.  An online survey aiming to shed more light on the experience of PCa patients on this therapy is being conducted via this link And a London college has developed an online intervention to support men with PCa who have ongoing fatigue and is recruiting patients to take part. Information here. And an oil-based oral formulation has been found that not only enables a smaller dose of abiraterone to be effective but also has the potential to dramatically reduce possible side effects (Jun ’20). See more here

Chemo swapped for precision drugs

Advanced PCa patients can take enzalutamide or abirerone at home instead of going into hospital for chemotherapy, NHS England says. It will relieve pressure on the NHS. The drugs are smarter, kinder treatments and could extend the lives of many more men, it’s said (May ’20). See more here: And a new treatment is being tested that could extend the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer, by killing cancer in the prostate despite the disease having spread. The nationwide Atlanta trial, at Imperial College London, was recruiting 918 newly-diagnosed men. Read more here.  And positive results have been reported from a trial that tested the PARP-inhibitor olaparib (Lynparza) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant PCa who have alterations in certain DNA damage repair genes. Roughly 20-30% of these patients harbour these gene mutations in their tumours and thus may benefit from olaparib.

Killer virus attacks cancer

A genetically modified virus that kills cancer cells and destroys their hiding places has been developed by British scientists. The dual-action virus targets both cancer cells and healthy cells which have been tricked into protecting the cancer from the immune system. The Oxford University study is the first time cancer-associated fibroblasts or CAFs within solid tumours have been specifically targeted in this way (Nov ’19). See more here. And a simple new blood test has been found to detect aggressive prostate cancer, according to research by Queen Mary University of London. With the PSA test, the new test could help men avoid unnecessary and invasive biopsies, over-diagnosis and over-treatment. The results need to be validated in other independent research centres before the new test is available, which could take 3-5 more years (Oct ’19). See more here. And UK researchers have developed a urine test to diagnose aggressive PCa and predict whether patients will need treatment up to five years earlier than standard clinical methods (Jun ’19). See more here

Tracking down tumours

A radical ‘seek and destroy’ treatment could extend the lives of thousands of men with advanced PCa. The approach is described by experts as ‘game changing’ (Jun ’19). See more at

Cancer can be detected much earlier

The first signs of cancer can appear decades before diagnosis, scientists have found – a discovery that could revolutionise treatment (Feb ’20). See more here. And Public Health England has published a statistical bulletin on survival rates for many types of cancer based on recent data. It stressses the importance of early diagnosis. A summary is here with a link to the full report

Patient guide ‘good source of info’

Prostate Cancer Foundation’s 2019 Patient Guide is said to be one of the best sources of information from diagnosis to survival of PCa. Download it for free here.  Our New Research page is updated regularly.

Drugs approved and a PCa ‘killer’

The NHS confirmed that the chemotherapy drug docetaxel will be made available to prostate cancer patients as soon as they are diagnosed instead of having to wait until other treatments stop working. See. And NICE has approved a new drug, Darolutamide, as an option for treating hormone-relapsed PCa in men at high risk of developing metastatic disease. It is among some exciting potential new ways to treat and diagnose PCa that are being developed. See more here Also scientists have discovered that a natural insecticide kills advanced PCa cells. See more here More news on the newsletter page.