Standard Hormone Therapy Makes Prostate Cancer Life-Threatening

[Julieanne]

Bryan Hubbard
December 6 2018

A standard hormone treatment for prostate cancer can sometimes cause the cancer to spread or recur, researchers have found.
Androgen-targeted therapy (ATT) is routinely used on the most common type of prostate cancer, adenocarcinoma, in its early stage. It targets androgens, the male sex hormones that can stimulate tumor growth—but sometimes the hormones become resistant to ATT and are transformed into a more dangerous type, neuroendocrine cancer cells.

Neuroendocrine is a more aggressive form of prostate cancer, spreads easily and is resistant even to chemotherapy, say researchers from Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles.


Read more: https://www.wddty.com/news/2018/12/s...=1544181256131

[Mr. Wizard]

Very interesting. Thanks for posting. I was not aware that androgen-targeted therapy (ATT) was routinely used on most common types of prostate cancer in its early stage. It was my understanding that ATT was used on late-stage cancers for the very reason cited in this article, that they can make cancer cells more aggressive. I would question any therapy that had the potential for making cancer cells more aggressive. Good News: The vast majority of men diagnosed with prostate cancer can expect to live long, full lives. The current 10-year survival rate is 91 percent.