Multifunctional nanoparticles image, target, and treat tumors

Men’s Health News
Encapsulating magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles within a silica shell has yielded a new multifunctional nanoparticle that has the potential to image, target, and treat tumors with water-insoluble anticancer drugs. Buy cialis pills A report of this work appears in the journal ACS Nano.
Jeffery Zink, Ph.D., led a research team at the University of California, Los Angeles, that created the new nanoparticles, which contain an iron oxide nanoparticle core and a porous silica shell. The investigators coated the resulting nanoparticles with folic acid, a tumor targeting agent, and a fluorescent dye to enable optical imaging. Soaking the nanoparticles in a solvent containing either paclitaxel or camptothecin, both of which are poorly soluble in water and difficult to deliver to tumors as a result, resulted in significant drug loading through the pores in the silica shell. Tests showed that the drug-loaded nanoparticles were stable for at least 2 months.
Experiments with pancreatic cancer cells demonstrated that the targeted nanoparticles were taken up rapidly by cancer cells, whereas untargeted control nanoparticles were not. The researchers were able to quantify nanoparticle uptake using both MRI and optical spectroscopy thanks to the iron oxide nanoparticle core and fluorescent dyes, respectively. The targeted nanoparticles were also more toxic to the tumor cells than were untargeted nanoparticles.
This work, which was supported in part by the NCI, is detailed in the paper "Multifunctional Inorganic Nanoparticles for Imaging, Targeting, and Drug Delivery." An abstract of this paper is available at the journal’s Web site. View abstract

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Prostate cancer vaccines found to be more effective with hormone therapy

Men’s Health News
Among patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, the addition of hormone therapy following vaccine treatment improved overall survival compared with either treatment alone or when the vaccine followed hormone treatment, according to recent data published in the July 15 Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Philip M. Arlen, M.D., director of the Clinical Research Group for the Laboratory of Tumor Immunology and Biology, Center for Cancer Research, at the National Cancer Institute, said the findings have important implications for guiding treatment decisions for prostate cancer patients.
"Vaccines, if and when they are approved, can be safely and effectively combined with other therapies, including hormones," said Arlen. "There appears to be an advantage in overall survival."
Arlen and colleagues enrolled 42 patients who had castration-resistant prostate cancer. Kaufen levitra pillen mastercard These patients were randomly assigned to receive either a poxvirus-based prostate-specific antigen vaccine or hormone therapy with nilutamide. At progression, patients received the other therapy and continued to receive their original therapy.
For all the patients enrolled in the study, the three-year survival probability was 71 percent and the median overall survival was 4.4 years. Patients randomized to the vaccine had a three-year survival probability of 81 percent and an overall survival of 5.1 years, while patients taking nilutamide had a three-year survival probability of 62 percent and an overall survival of 3.4 years.
Of the 42 patients in the study, 12 patients who were originally assigned to vaccine switched to nilutamide plus vaccine and eight patients who were originally assigned to nilutamide switched to vaccine plus hormone, due to rising levels of prostate-specific antigen with no evidence of metastasis. For patients who received vaccine and then nilutamide, the three-year survival probability was 100 percent with a median overall survival of 6.2 years. For patients who switched to the vaccine after hormone, the three-year survival probability was 75 percent with a median overall survival of 3.7 years.
Arlen said the hormone therapy in combination with the vaccine works in two ways.
"By using hormone therapy in prostate cancer you can help enhance your T-cell response to where the cancer is in the prostate gland, and you are also more likely to achieve a better immune response," said Arlen.
Building on the results of this phase II study, researchers have developed another generation of this vaccine by adding molecules which boost T-cell responses.
Based on the current pace of vaccine research overall, Arlen predicts that men with prostate cancer could potentially see an effective, new treatment vaccine within the next several years.
"Phase II trials such as this one are adding to our knowledge, and other phase III trials are getting ready to publish their data," said Arlen. "If the phase II data hold up in phase III trials, we could see a new treatment vaccine within a few years."

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Fewer Complications From Minimally Invasive Pancreas Surgery

When surgeons need to remove part of the pancreas, performing the operation with minimally invasive techniques offers patients a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications, researchers have concluded.
A study of more than 660 operations to remove pancreatic tumors and cysts over five years found that after laparoscopic surgery, patients stayed a third less time in the hospital without experiencing more complications such as leaks.
David Kooby, MD, assistant professor of surgical oncology at Emory University School of Medicine and the Emory Winship Cancer Institute. Buy generic clomid Finds presented at the American Surgical Association meeting in New York.
During laparoscopic surgery, doctors make smaller incisions than in traditional surgery and monitor their progress with fiber optics and video cameras. The less invasive approach has become well accepted for gallstone removal, repair of stomach valves and weight loss surgery, Kooby says.
"Data on patient outcomes has been scarce when it comes to extending this approach to the surgical care of other organs," he says. "Still, more surgeons and institutions are doing these procedures and more patients and referring doctors are requesting them. Our study shows that this approach is not only viable but may be preferable for the pancreas."
He and colleagues at eight universities across the Midwest and Southeast collected information on left pancreatectomies, where part but not all of the pancreas is removed, from 2002 to 2006. About a quarter were attempted laparoscopically.
About half the operations had complications, and a sixth had a leak of pancreatic fluid, the researchers found. Laparoscopic procedures had fewer complications (40 percent v. 57 percent) than standard surgery, and patients experienced lower blood loss and stayed about six days in the hospital compared with the standard nine.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Vincent Dollard
Emory University
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Androgen deprivation therapy does not improve survival for elderly men with localized prostate cancer

Men’s Health News
A therapy that involves depriving the prostate gland the male hormone androgen is not associated with improved survival for elderly men with localized prostate cancer, compared to conservative management of the disease, according to a study in the July 9 issue of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Prostate cancer is the most common nonskin cancer and the second most common cause of cancer death among men. "Kaufen generishe cialis For the majority of men with incident prostate cancer (approximately 85 percent), disease is diagnosed at localized (T1-T2) stages, and standard treatment options include surgery, radiation, or conservative management (i.e., deferral of treatment until necessitated by disease signs or symptoms). Although not standard or sanctioned by major groups or guidelines, an increasing number of clinicians and patients have turned to primary androgen deprivation therapy (PADT) as an alternative to surgery, radiation, or conservative management, especially among older men," the authors write. In a 1999-2001 survey, PADT had become the second most common treatment approach, after surgery, for localized prostate cancer, despite a lack of data regarding PADT’s efficacy.
Grace L. Lu-Yao, M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, N.J., and colleagues assessed the association between PADT and disease-specific survival and overall survival in 19,271 men with T1-T2 (localized) prostate cancer (diagnosed in 1992 - 2002). The patients, age 66 years or older, did not receive definitive local therapy (i.e., such as prostatectomy) for prostate cancer. Among the patients, 7,867 (41 percent) received PADT, and 11,404 were treated with conservative management, not including PADT. During the follow-up period (through December 2006 for all-cause mortality and through December 2004 for prostate cancer-specific mortality) there were 1,560 prostate cancer deaths and 11,045 deaths from all causes.
The researchers found that use of PADT for localized prostate cancer was associated with lower 10-year prostate cancer-specific survival (80.1 percent vs. 82.6 percent) and no increase in 10-year overall survival compared with conservative management. However, in a prespecified subset analysis, PADT use in men with poorly differentiated cancer was associated with improved 10-year prostate cancer-specific survival (59.8 percent vs. 54.3 percent) but not overall survival (17.3 percent vs. 15.3 percent).
"The significant adverse effects and costs associated with PADT, along with our finding of a lack of overall survival benefit, suggest that clinicians should carefully consider the rationale for initiating PADT in elderly patients with T1-T2 prostate cancer," the authors conclude.

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Health policy for men in the pipeline

Men’s Health News
Plans are in the pipeline to raise awareness of health issues which affect men in particular.
The Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon says the government has set in motion plans for the development of Australia’s first health policy for men based on a draft document developed in 1996.
The Health Minister says a discussion paper followed by consultations across the country over the next 12 months, will raise awareness of preventable problems and specific health challenges which men need to deal with.
Ms Roxon says the resistance amongst men with regard to seeking treatment is an issue the government is determined to help men tackle.
generishe viagra soft online kaufen mastercard The government’s national Men’s Health Policy aims to address the large diversity between the health of men and women.
The initiative has been given a kick start with a grant of $460,000 grant to the National Suicide Prevention Strategy and another $95,000 to encourage men to seek preventative health checks.
The Men’s Health policy will aims to overcome the widespread resistance among men to seek treatment by making health services more male-friendly and to engage men in looking after their own health.
Research in recent years has revealed that not only do men on average die almost five years earlier than women, but they are also three times more likely to commit suicide and to die from HIV/AIDS, lung cancer, emphysema and liver diseases.
Ms Roxon says men’s health is an issue which is too often overlooked.
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