At a meeting of some leading members of the prostate cancer advocacy community yesterday morning, during the ASCO meeting in Orlando, Dr. William Simons of the Prostate Cancer Foundation distributed a diagram suggesting that there may be as many as 15-18 different sub-types of prostate cancer.
It has long been known that not all prostate cancers are the same. At the very simplest level we have been aware that there are indolent and aggressive prostate cancers; there are hormone-responsive and hormone-non-responsive prostate cancers; there are prostate cancers with high and low Gleason scores; etc.
However, what the Prostate Cancer Foundation, working with its broad team of scientific researchers, has now been able to do is look at prostate cancer much more from the point of view of the molecular development of the differing sub-types of this cancer, the molecular targets that can be blocked or stimulated to have particular therapeutic effects, and the specific ways in which the treatments that are known to be effective impact specific molecular targets:
The good thing, however, is that we really are making progress in understanding more about the details of how prostate cancer develops and progresses. Such progress is critical to the development of the next generations of products designed to treat and (better still) to prevent prostate cancer, with greater effectiveness and safety than anything we have available today.
Prostatic sarcoma is an extremely rare prostate cancer type. It accounts for less than 0.1 percent of primary prostate cancer types in adults. The most common subtype of prostatic sarcoma is leiomyosarcoma.
A prostatic sarcoma occurs in relatively younger men between the ages of 35 and 60. Most men with prostate cancer prognosis experience signs of prostate cancer including:
• Bladder flow obstruction
• Weak stream
• Urinary strain and frequency
• Nocturia (excessive urination at night)
The mass size of the tumor is likely responsible for these prostate cancer symptoms. Often times, the tumor is very large. The tumor is made up of prostate cancer cell types that are capable of developing into connective tissues, blood, lymphatic vessels, and blood vessels originating from smooth muscles of the prostate.
However, what the Prostate Cancer Foundation, working with its broad team of scientific researchers, has now been able to do is look at prostate cancer much more from the point of view of the molecular development of the differing sub-types of this cancer, the molecular targets that can be blocked or stimulated to have particular therapeutic effects, and the specific ways in which the treatments that are known to be effective impact specific molecular targets:
- The drugs like the LHRH agonists and the antiandrogens impact the androgen receptors.
- Drugs like abiraterone actetate also impact the androgen receptors, but in a rather different way.
- Docetaxel affects β-tubulin and can therefore interrupt cancer cell development.
The good thing, however, is that we really are making progress in understanding more about the details of how prostate cancer develops and progresses. Such progress is critical to the development of the next generations of products designed to treat and (better still) to prevent prostate cancer, with greater effectiveness and safety than anything we have available today.
Prostatic Sarcoma
Prostatic sarcoma is an extremely rare prostate cancer type. It accounts for less than 0.1 percent of primary prostate cancer types in adults. The most common subtype of prostatic sarcoma is leiomyosarcoma.
A prostatic sarcoma occurs in relatively younger men between the ages of 35 and 60. Most men with prostate cancer prognosis experience signs of prostate cancer including:
• Bladder flow obstruction
• Weak stream
• Urinary strain and frequency
• Nocturia (excessive urination at night)
The mass size of the tumor is likely responsible for these prostate cancer symptoms. Often times, the tumor is very large. The tumor is made up of prostate cancer cell types that are capable of developing into connective tissues, blood, lymphatic vessels, and blood vessels originating from smooth muscles of the prostate.