Facts About Prostate Cancer - Research Paper Outline Rough Draft

Facts About Prostate Cancer - Research Paper Outline Rough Draft
Background Information
- Second most common type of cancer in American men(400 000 men will die this year)
- Most people not die from it but with it
- Prostate is gland the size of an egg sandwiched between the bladder and rectum, protected by capsule(thin covering)
- Produces sperm
- 96% of cases are of men who are over the age of 55
Cancer Information
- Cause unknown
- Survival rate has increased drastically in the last 20 years, from 67% to 92%

- Growth of cancer cells is stimulated by male hormones, especially testosterone
- Begins when one or more normal cells transform into cancer cells
- Tends to grow slowly
- Stage 1(a.k.a. Stage A or T1)
- Tumour in prostate only, can’t be felt by DRE
- Stage 2(a.k.a. Stage B or T2)
- Still in Prostate, can be felt by DRE
- Stage 3(a.k.a. Stage C or T3)
- Tumour spreads to immediate surrounding tissue
- Stage 4(a.k.a. Stage D2 or M1)
- Tumour spreads to other parts of the body

Symptoms
- Early cancer usually has no symptoms
- Can resemble BPH (Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia), which can be confusing
- Non-cancerous enlargement is common in men over 40
- Some symptoms include:
- Blood in urine/semen
- Frequent urination or inability to urinate
- Pain during urination/ejaculation
- Bone pain

Diagnosis
- DRE (Digital Rectal Examination)
- Doctor inserts gloved and lubricated hand into rectum to feel shape and size of prostate
- Not entire prostate felt, but enough to determine tumours
- PSA (Prostate Specific Antigen)
- PSA produced by both cancerous and normal cells, but only prostate cells produce them
- When cancer develops and grows, PSA level usually increases
- Biopsy
- Only way to actually diagnose cancer
- Small tissue of prostate obtained and examined

Treatment Options/ Recent Findings
- Treatment usually depends on the stage of cancer and its growth speed
- Radiation Therapy
- High energy rays used to kill prostate cancer cells, shrink tumours
- Uses sophisticated computer programs and 3-D images to accurately target the tumour(s)
- Conformal Proton Beam Radiation Therapy
 Newer form of radiation therapy
 Uses protons instead of energy rays
 A number of side effects that usually disappear when therapy is over
- Hormone Therapy
- Try and decrease production of male hormones or block effect on cancer cells
- Cannot cure cancer, but used to slow growth and reduce size of tumours
- Options include surgical removal of testes, and antiandrogens – drugs that prevent production of male hormones
- Estrogen Therapy
 Administration of estrogen that lowers production of testosterone
- LH-RH Therapy
 Leutenizing Hormone-Releasing Hormone that lowers levels testosterone
- Radical Prostatectory
- Surgical removal of prostate
- New nerve-sparing techniques have reduced side effects
 Lymph nodes that are sometimes removed are left alone if possible, using new techniques
- Brachytherapy
- Form of radiation treatment where tiny pellets containing radioactive material are implanted into the prostate, where they kill cancer cells
- Exact ultrasound guidance helps the implant
- ProstRcision
- Excision of prostate by irradiation
- Similar to radical prostatectory in concept, but no cutting involved
- Part 1: seeds implanted into prostate that carry radioactive material to treat cells by radiation
- Part 2: conformal beam radiation irradiates around the prostate
- Cyrosurgery
- Treats localized cancer by freezing/destroying prostate
- New interest in this technique due to improvements in technology
- Freezing process may damage nerves, as temperatures can drop to -195 C
- Chemotherapy
- Use of strong drugs to destroy cancer cells
- Drugs destroy any cells that divide rapidly
- Can affect normal body cells

- Firefly glow
- Scientists succeeded in tracking spread of prostate cancer in mice by using firefly proteins to light up tumours
- Virus-vector developed to target cancer cells based on expression of PSA
- Contain firefly genes that produce glowing protein in presence of PSA
- In mice, cancer cells glowed
- Using this vector, toxic genes could be delivered to cancer cells, but problems still need to be solved for human testing
- New Genetic Marker
- New test for diagnosing cancer, as PSA testing is still largely unreliable
- Researchers identified 20 genes that are overexpressed in cancer cells
- Roughly 95% of more than 300 prostate tissue samples contained a specific protein ( a-methyl-CoA racemase : AMACR)
- AMACR may be a useful addition to current diagnosing tools
- Also found AMACR in breast, bladder and lung cancer, suggesting that AMACR could be used in diagnosing those types of cancer

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