UCLA researchers locate and image prostate cancer as it spreads to lymph nodes “Using an engineered common cold virus, UCLA researchers delivered a genetic payload to prostate cancer cells that allowed them, using Positron Emission Tomography (PET), to locate the diseased cells as they spread to the lymph nodes, the first place prostate cancer goes before invading other organs. The tiny cancer metastases in the pelvic lymph nodes are very difficult to find using conventional imaging tools such as CT scanning. This discovery could aid oncologists in finding the cancer's spread earlier, when it's more treatable, and before it invades distant organs, said Lily Wu, a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Cancer Center and the senior author of the study. “

Can Physicians Accurately Predict Survival Time in Patients with Metastatic Cancer? Analysis of RTOG 97-14. (J Palliat Med. 2008)

JAMA patient page. Prostate cancer.

What is low-risk prostate cancer and what is its natural history? (World J Urol. 2008)

Prostate Cancer Deaths Double In Men With BRCA2 “Men with prostate cancer caused by a faulty BRCA2 gene are more than twice as likely to die from the disease than those carrying the faulty BRCA1 gene - reveals a study published in the British Journal of Cancer*. These findings could help tailor treatment and target chemotherapy more effectively to men with prostate cancer that is caused by a BRCA gene fault. Carriers of the BRCA2 gene were found to live for an average of four years following a diagnosis of the disease, compared to an average of eight years in men carrying the BRCA1 gene.”

Broccoli nudges genes to fight prostate cancer “Just a few more portions of broccoli each week may protect men from prostate cancer, British researchers reported on Wednesday. The researchers believe a chemical in the food sparks hundreds of genetic changes, activating some genes that fight cancer and switching off others that fuel tumors, said Richard Mithen, a biologist at Britain's Institute of Food Research.”