Prostate Cancer and Hormonal Treatment New Research

Prostate Cancer and Hormonal Treatment or in other words, Androgen Deprivation Therapy (ADT) has been studied extensively in the past 5 decades with a plethora of robust and well documents information about the effectiveness of the Hormonal Treatments and their side effects as well. This Blog will explore New Research on one of the side effects or toxicities of the Hormonal Treatments for Prostate Cancer.

Why Hormonal Treatment?

Hormonal Treatment for Prostate Cancer is not prescribed to every patient with this disease. The main indication for Hormonal Treatment or Androgen Deprivation Therapy is the presence of Locally Advanced or Metastatic Prostate Cancer that is responsive to hormone suppression (To suppress Testosterone which is the male hormone that is responsible for the growth and the spread of Prostate Cancer).  Hormonal Treatment is usually given as injections to suppress or antagonize the pituitary gland hormones that control testosterone hormone production. Examples of such injections are Leuprolide (Eligard), Goserelin (Zoladex), and Triptorelin ( Trelstar), Sometimes they are given with an anti-androgens such as Flutamide, Bicalutamide (Casodex) and Abiraterone Acetate (Zytica).

Common Side Effects

For many years, Hormone Treatments for advanced Prostate Cancer are known to cause many side effects such as Hot Flushes, sweating, fatigue, low mode, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, brain fogginess, overweight, obesity and high cholesterol. Diabetes Mellitus is one of the long term side effects. The effects on erection and male potency is also another major side effect.

What are the New Research Findings?

A New Research Published in February 2020 titled: Subsequent risk of acute urinary retention and androgen deprivation therapy in patients with prostate cancer A population-based retrospective cohort study in the Medicine Journal by Teng Kai Y et al (2020  https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/FullText/2020/02140/Subsequent_risk_of_acute_urinary_retention_and.12.aspx  )  found that, after studying 24,464 males patients in Taiwan with advanced prostate cancer who were treated with either Hormone Suppressive Therapy or not, many patients who received the Hormone Suppression developed Acute Urinary Retention as compared to those who did not. This is a newly discovered side effect of Androgen Deprivation Therapy that was confirmed with  this research

 

Role of diet and supplements in Prostate Cancer

According to Lin P et al(  Nutrition, dietary interventions and prostate cancer: the latest evidence, BMC Medicine Journal,2012), https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286914/   It is recommended to eat lots of vegetables, greens, and fruits and reduce saturated fats and cooked meats to reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer and slows disease progression. The idea from eating excess fruits and vegetables is that these foods are rich in flavonoids which are nutritional elements that slow down the division of prostate cancer cells.

The use of Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) supplement in prostate Cancer was well researched and it showed a high benefit when given to Prostate Cancer patients.  EGCG supplement induces apoptosis (programmed cell death)for prostate cancer cell lines, and this helps to stall the growth of prostate cancer cell lines in vitro. Moreover, EGCG alters the expression of the cell cycle regulatory proteins that are critical for cell survival and programmed cell death https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0024320506006114 

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