THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

In today’s news reports we include items on:

• ETS gene fusions and their future in the diagnosis and management of prostate cancer
• Outcomes after different types of radiotherapy
• Micro-RNAs and late stage prostate cancer

Tomlins et al. have reviewed available data on the role of the so-called E twenty-six (ETS) gene fusions in the evolution of prostate cancer over time. They suggest that early clinical applications of ETS fusions are most likely in the detection of prostate cancer and in aiding with difficult diagnostic cases. It is also highly possible that there is an association between gene fusions and cancer aggressiveness. The authors go on to suggest that, in time, detection of ETS fusions will affect many aspects of prostate cancer diagnosis and management.

Jabbari et al. have reported on a retrospective analysis of biochemical outcomes among patients with localized prostate cancer treated with three different types of radiation therapy: permanent prostate implant brachytherapy (PPI), three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), and conformal proton beam radiotherapy (CPBRT). Their data included 249 patients treated with PPI at the University of California, San Francisco. These patients had a 93 percent incidence of biochemical recurrence-free survival (based on the Phoenix criteria of nadir + 2 ng/ml) at a median follow-up of 5.3 years. Similar results were observed for comparable groups of patients treated with 3D-CRT and CPBRT. However, this was not a randomized, prospective clinical trial, and interpretation of such data should therefore be carried out with caution.

deVere White et al. have reported on the potential role(s) of certain forms of micro-ribonucleic acid molecule (micro-RNAs) in the development of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).