News

Potential cancer breakthrough as scientists finally discover how tumours ‘hijack’ healthy cells. See here

The Prostate Cancer Research Pod is back with new episodes! Host Ben Monro-Davies chats to the people behind the research – from those living with PCa to the scientists working to find new treatments. Join here

Public health messaging around PCa places a misleading focus on urinary symptoms and may be hampering efforts of early detection, scientists have warned. Researchers said there was “no evidence of a causal link between PCa and either prostate size or troublesome urinary symptoms”. But public health guidance regularly promotes this link. Worried about  PCa? Check here in 30 seconds

Scientists have early evidence that one way to kill recurring cancer cells may be with a lot of iron. More here

People with a worrying cough, problems swallowing or blood in their urine will soon be able to be referred for scans and checks by a pharmacist, rather than by their GP. A new pilot scheme, in England, aims to diagnose more cancers early, when there is a better chance of a cure. The NHS also plans to offer Jewish people genetic screening – as up to one in 40 has Brca mutations, linked to a higher risk of breast, ovarian and prostate cancers, compared with one in 400 in the general population.

Scientists say they have identified urine bacteria which are linked to aggressive PCa. The discovery might provide new ways to spot and even prevent these dangerous tumours, experts hope. See more And scientists have hypothesised that if they found a way to get zinc into malignant cells that might be helpful. More here

Reducing barriers to screening in Black men

A research team is examining the links between neighbourhood factors, PSA testing and PCa mortality to improve access to screening in Black communities. More here And a programme to close the gap for Black men with PCa was announced by Prostate Cancer Research in August ’23. See more here  In partnership with Movember, Prostate Cancer UK is funding a study to help find out why Black men are at higher risk of PCa than other ethnic groups. And Prostate Cancer Research announced an initial £875k investment in finding answers to Black men’s higher risks of diagnosis and death. Black men are twice as likely to get PCa and 2.5 times more likely to die from it than White men. Five new projects launched to specifically tackle this inequity. And there’s more informatio for Black men in the wider column on our front page

Prostate Cancer Research has launched a website to empower people living with PCa to make better treatment decisions. Since launch there have been almost 100,000 visitors to the site. You can sign up here to share your experiences on The Infopool. And the Predict Prostate web tool helps you make decisions about PCa treatment. There is also a new tool here: It aims to help patients find out about the different tests and scans used to diagnose prostate cancer or to rule it out.

A hunt is on for 14,000 men who it’s estimated haven’t started PCa treatment due to the pandemic (Feb ’22). More here. Men are asked to answer three quick questions at this risk checker: The ‘Find the 14,000 men’ campaign by Prostate Cancer UK has been nominated for the NHS Communinications Initiative of the Year Award at the 2022 Health Service Journal Awards (Aug ’22).

A new radiation treatment was approved by the US FDA in March for certain patients with advanced PCa. It has been shown to help patients with advanced PCa live longer and maintain quality of life (Mar ’22). See more here