TAKING FOOT OFF THE PEDAL THAT DRIVES PROSTATE CANCER FORWARD ABIRATERONE STUDY MAY POINT TO NEW TREATMENT FOR PROSTATE CANCER

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Could Abiraterone Take the Foot Off the Pedal that Drives Prostate Cancer Forward?

Possibly an enormous breakthrough, could abiraterone be a new effective treatment for what was drug resistant prostate cancer? Dr. Johan DeBono, a lead researcher described it this way. The drug, abiraterone "takes the foot off the pedal of the accelerator that drives the cancer forward". As you can see in this video about the prostate cancer study, scientists are testing the drug called abiraterone or CB7630 against prostate cancer. Scientists believe that testosterone levels stimulate the growth of prostate cancer cells. As you know testosterone is the male sex hormone.



Testosterone manufacture is accelerated by an enzyme called 17α-hydroxylase/C17,20 lyase. An enzyme is a chemical which speeds up a chemical reaction. In preclinical and clinical studies, abiraterone has shown that it can block the enzyme, resulting in blocking of testosterone production. By blocking the enzyme that is involved in testosterone manufacturing you can slow down the prostate cancer.



PSA is a common blood test for prostate problems. In general, men over 50 and some younger will get PSA testing as part of a physical exam at their doctor. "70%-80% of the patients in the abiraterone study saw a reduction in PSA levels and the data also demonstrated that abiraterone delayed disease progression by a median of 400 days".





Watch Video About A Possible Breakthrough CB7630 abiraterone in Treating Prostate Cancer Click the arrow






The trial was conducted by the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital in England. "De Bono said that the Royal Marsden patients in the study have been monitored for up to two-and-a-half years and with continued use of abiraterone they were able to control their disease with few side-effects".



"21 chemotherapy-naive men with prostate cancer resistant to multiple hormonal therapies experienced significant tumour shrinkage and reduction in prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels when treated with abiraterone, also known as CB7630. PSA is a common blood test for prostate problems". In general,men over 50 and some younger will get PSA testing as part of a physical exam at their doctor. "70%-80% of the patients in the abiraterone study saw a reduction in PSA levels and the data also demonstrated that abiraterone delayed disease progression by a median of 400 days".





"John Neate, chief executive of The United Kingdom’s Prostate Cancer Charity said “this is an exciting development which has been eagerly anticipated”. He noted that advanced prostate cancer is very difficult to treat as, after a period of time, it stops responding to conventional ways of controlling testosterone, essential to the cancer’s continued growth. Mr Neate concluded by saying that “we look forward to the results of the larger trials already underway or being planned for this drug to prove its potential effectiveness for the thousands of men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer every year”.

Phase I Clinical Trial of a Selective Inhibitor of CYP17, Abiraterone Acetate, Confirms That Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Commonly Remains Hormone Driven