P A A C T, I N C. PROSTATE CANCER COMMUNICATION P PROSTATE CANCER COMM UNI CATI ON NEW SLETTER • VOLUM E 2 2, NUM BER 2 • Sep t em b er 2 00 6 FOUNDER: LLOYD J. NEY, SR. – FOUNDED 1984 President and Chairperson: WHAT THE HECK HAS BEEN GOING ON IN MY WORLD- Janet E. Ney PART 12!!! By Mark A. Moyad, M.D., M.P.H. Board of Directors: PISTONS DO NOT RULE! That is all I need to say about that - by the time Edwin Kuberski you read this article I will have finished professional mental therapy for the Treasurer second year in a row because the Pistons blew it in the playoffs. Well, there is always the Michigan football season in a few months (time to restart therapy). Newton Dilley Helen Mellema 71) I heard you are on ABC radio every Saturday from 11AM to Noon! Peter Noor Jr. Richard H. Profit Jr. Was I drinking a lot of pomegranate juice that day or are you really on Anthony Staicer this show? The show is called “The Doctor is in” with Dr. Mark Moyad and Stephen Stewart. If you go to WJR.com on Saturday mornings at 11AM to Noon East- Honorary Board Member: ern Standard time you can listen to the show live anywhere in the world on your computer. In the Midwest the radio dial is 760 AM and it is the same sta- Russell Osbun tion my father listened to when I was a kid (neat stuff)! It is a 1-hour general prevention and nutrition show and I have no idea how long it will last. We have already talked about sunscreen, weight loss, exercise, … I was only sup- Medical Advisory Board: posed to be a guest for one show and we are now on our sixth show. Feel free to go to WJR.com and email them and say nice things about me, or if you Richard J. Ablin, Ph.D. V. Elayne Arterbery, M.D. have nothing nice to say, feel free to say something bad about anyone else but Robert A. Badalament, M.D. me. You can email them and ask how to get copies of the old shows... I hope Duke K. Bahn, M.D. you all get a chance to listen because we are having a lot of fun (understate- Israel Barken, M.D. ment of the year). E. Roy Berger, M.D. Michael J. Dattoli, M.D. Fernand Labrie, M.D. 72) There is a new vaccine (Zostavax®) for the prevention of Shingles. Fred Lee Sr. M.D. No, this is not prostate cancer information, but for the past 103 years (or has it Robert Leibowitz, M.D. only been 102 years) of writing for PAACT you probably realize that I am Mark Moyad, M.D., M.P.H. somewhat a fan of preventive medicine. On May 26, 2006 the FDA approved Charles E. Myers Jr. M.D. Zostavax® made by Merck, which is the first vaccine ever approved for the Gary M. Onik, M.D. Haakon Ragde, M.D. prevention of Shingles. The ideal candidates for this vaccine are men and Oliver Sartor, M.D. women age 60 years or older that have never had a bout of shingles. What is Stephen B. Strum, M.D., FACP shingles? It is a reactivation of the old chicken pox virus and it can be quite Donald Trump, M.D. painful and debilitating. It is possible that other Steven J. Tucker, M.D. Ronald E. Wheeler, M.D. Let’s Conquer Cancer in OUR Lifetime younger individuals and some individuals that have in one area of cancer but may have activity in another had shingles in the past may qualify for this injection area of cancer. In addition, by the time you read this but as more research comes from the clinical trials we newsletter we should have a good idea of whether or will get a better idea. In the meantime, if you are in- not the pill “Xinlay” by Abbott has a chance of get- terested in this vaccine please talk to your primary ting FDA approved anytime soon for hormone refrac- care doctor. My job was just to let you know it has tory prostate cancer (HRPC), so talk to your doctor been approved because I was really excited about it. about this also. It seemed to reduce the risk of getting shingles by about 50% over several years, and even if you did get 74) What is Metabolic Syndrome (MS) and why is shingles it seemed to lessen the severity of the dis- it important to prostate cancer patients? ease. This injection is simple and is only given as a (Reference: Abstract 4554 from the American Society of Clinical On- cology Meeting 2006. Flanagan JR, et al-Indianapolis VA Study. single or one time injection. Also, it is about 14 Metabolic Syndrome patients on hormone therapy predicts for a shorter times the concentration of the chicken pox vaccine, response time.) that is why an entirely different vaccine was needed. There are several different definitions of metabolic syndrome, but basically having at least 3 of the fol- 73) I heard there are 2 new drugs approved for lowing factors increases the risk of type-2 diabetes advanced kidney cancer that you can take as a pill and cardiovascular disease (CVD). The overall five and they are now testing these drugs in advanced factors are: prostate cancer. What are the names of these -High blood pressure drugs? -Low HDL or “good cholesterol” The name of the first drug is “Nexavar®” or so- -Abdominal obesity (waist circumference of 40 inch- rafenib tosylate from Bayer, and the name of the sec- es or more) ond drug is “Sutent®” or sunitinib malate from Pfiz- -High triglycerides (from the cholesterol blood test) er. These are exciting times and it could be that the -High glucose or sugar level next breakthrough for prostate cancer comes from kidney or colon cancer research or another cancer. If A very good and interesting study was presented at your situation is more desperate please talk to your our annual oncology meeting in Atlanta this year. doctor about some of these drugs that are already The researchers looked back in time at patients on approved INDEX Page 1. What The Heck Has Been Going On In My World CANCER COMMUNICATON – Part 12! (Mark A. Moyad, MD, MPH) Published Quarterly by: PAACT, Inc. Patient Advocates for Advanced Cancer Treatments 6. Should I or Shouldn’t I Join a Clinical Trial? (Is- 1143 Parmelee NW Grand Rapids, MI 49504 rael Barken, MD) Director…Richard Profit 11. New Molecular Tests Can Predict the Return of Editors….Richard Profit/Molly Meyers Prostate Cancer (Jason Alter, PhD) Assistant….Molly Meyers Webmaster….Art Schlefstein 12. Steven Tucker, MD Takes a Sabbatical Postmaster: Send address changes to: Prostate Cancer Communication 13. GoodSearch P.O. Box 141695 Grand Rapids, MI 49514 13. High Dose Testosterone Replacement Therapy & Prostate Cancer - Part 1(Robert Leibowitz, MD) Phone: 616/453-1477 Fax: 616/453-1846 E-Mail: [email protected] 18. Brad Guess Memorial PAACT Web Page: http://www.paactusa.org Newsletter: http://www.paactusa.org 19. CA Regional Prostate Cancer Conference 2006 Editor: 19. Prostate Cancer Risk Linked to DNA Articles authored by other than the editor may not fully reflect the views of the corporation but are printed with the 20. International Conference on Prostate Cancer 2006 understanding that the patient has the right to make his own interpretation of the efficacy of the information provided. In an effort to conserve space and be able to insert as 21. Ask Dr. Barken much material as possible in the newsletter, references from various articles are intentionally omitted. If you would like to obtain those 21. Acknowledgements references, please contact PAACT, we keep all of the original articles and the references used on file. 23. Financial Summary androgen suppression for prostate cancer and found flow rate (an objective measure completed by the that men with metabolic syndrome had a shorter re- physician). There were also a number of secondary sponse time to the drug and a greater risk for early outcomes including: change in the prostate size, urine death. In other words, having metabolic syndrome or volume left in the bladder after urinating, quality of some of the above characteristics of metabolic syn- life, laboratory values and side effects. Let’s look at drome had the potential to make a prostate cancer some of the characteristics of these men at the begin- prognosis worse! Here is another reason to begin to ning of the study in this table. exercise, lose weight, and improve cholesterol, blood pressure and your sugar levels after a man has been Table. Characteristics of the participants at the begin- diagnosed or treated for prostate cancer. ning of the saw palmetto versus placebo study Approximate Saw palmetto Placebo 75) Saw palmetto was safe at 320 mg per day, but characteristics of Group Group it did not work any better than a placebo for mod- the 225 partici- (112 patients) (113 patients) erate-to-severe benign prostatic hyperplasia pants (BPH) after 1 year of use. (Reference: Bent S, Kane C, Shinohara K, et al: Saw palmetto for be- Average age 63 years 63 years nign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). N Engl J Med 354: 557-566, 2006.) Percentage of 16% 21% This was simply a wonderful clinical trial, and the re- non-white or mi- searchers and patients in this study should be com- norities mended for being a part of one of the best herbal Average AUASI 15.5 15 studies in medical history (in my opinion)! Saw pal- Score metto enjoys a tremendous amount of sales around (scores run 0-35 the world.