[Hopespringpcsg] FW: FYI From dailymail.co.uk Topic: Prostate cancer breakthrough as scientists discover WHY the disease spreads, paving way for better treatments

[Glen Tolhurst]

Hi all:

Interesting article.

Take care,

Glen

 


Sent: April 2, 2015 12:49 PM

Subject: FYI From dailymail.co.uk Topic: Prostate cancer breakthrough as
scientists discover WHY the disease spreads, paving way for better
treatments

 


Prostate cancer breakthrough as scientists discover WHY the disease spreads,
paving way for better treatments


*	British scientists say they have got to the 'root' of prostate
cancer
*	Have exposed an Achilles' heel that could lead to better survival
chances 
*	Could mean that men get individualised treatments within a few years


By Fiona Macrae, Daily Mail Science Correspondent
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Fiona+Macrae,+Da
ily+Mail+Science+Correspondent>  

Published: 12:09 EST, 1 April 2015 | Updated: 19:47 EST, 1 April 2015 


 British scientists have discovered an 'Achilles' heel' in prostate cancer
which could lead to better treatments.

The disease claims almost 11,000 lives a year in the UK, with most deaths
occurring after it spreads around the body.

The latest study gets to the root of this spread, and could mean better
outcomes for the 42,000 men a year diagnosed with the illness.

Scientists funded by Cancer Research UK studied samples taken from tumours
in the prostate and around the body in ten affected men.

Reading the DNA revealed details of how the cancer metastasises, or spreads,
allowing them to build a 'family tree' of how the disease changes over time.

It seems that most of the cells in a tumour stay where they are. However, a
small number have the ability to travel through the body, creating new
tumours as they go.

These cells are the 'root' of the cancer and for a treatment to work, they
should be destroyed.

In future, doctors may be able to find these key cells in individual
patients. 

They could then be given drugs to wipe them out, with each patient's
treatment tailored to the genetic flaw at the root of their cancer. 

This should kill the new tumours and prevent more from forming, greatly
improving odds of survival.

Cambridge University researcher Professor David Neal said some suitable
drugs already exist, and that new ones are being developed all the time. 

However, he cautioned that it will be three to five years before the latest
knowledge can be routinely put to use in the NHS.


Lead study author Professor Ros Eeles, from the Institute of Cancer Research
in London, said: 'We gained a much broader view of prostate cancer by
studying both the original cancer and the cells that had spread to other
parts of the body.


'We found that all of the cells that had broken free shared a common
ancestor cell in the prostate.

'The common faults we found in each man could potentially offer new targets
for treatment.'

Co-author Dr Ultan McDermott, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in
Cambridgeshire, described the finding as a 'potential Achilles' heel'.

Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said: 'This
research lets us look right into the molecular core of cancer.' 

 

 

 

 

 

url:
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3021800/Prostate-cancer-breakthro
ugh-scientists-discover-disease-spreads-paving-way-better-treatments.html#ix
zz3WAg6BVSR>
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3021800/Prostate-cancer-breakthrou
gh-scientists-discover-disease-spreads-paving-way-better-treatments.html#ixz
z3WAg6BVSR 
 

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