THE "NEW" PROSTATE CANCER INFOLINK

Last week we mentioned that one specific form of micro-ribonucleic acid (miRNA) may be usable in the development of a drug or drugs to stop the process of metastasis in men with high-risk forms of prostate cancer. Another recent study goes one step further than that.

Das et al. have reported that a form of miRNA known as miR-194 may be usable to develop a test to predict risk for metastatic prostate cancer (as well, in the longer term, as being used to develop treatments that might be able to arrest or delay the process of metastasis). This commentary on the ScienceDaily web site gives a layperson’s overview.

Clearly there are a number of different research groups working on the potential of miRNAs as diagnostic tools, as prognostic tools, and as a potential new class of agents that may be effective in the treatment of aggressive forms of prostate cancer. Equally clearly, there are going to be a lot of kinks that will need to be worked out before we can reasonably expect clinically available tests and treatments to come out of this research. We are early on in the development process … but it sounds promising.

Filed under: Diagnosis, Drugs in development, Management, Risk, Treatment | Tagged: miRNA, prognosis, research, risk, test, Treatment |