Ohio scientists have demonstrated that diesel exhaust induces the growth of new blood vessels that send blood to supply to solid tumors. This is the first evidence of how exposure to diesel fumes can cause cancer.

The researchers found that more new blood vessels sprouted in mice exposed to diesel exhaust than did in mice exposed to clean, filtered air. The same changes happened in both healthy mice and in sick animals. This suggests, the scientists say, that previous illness isn’t required to make humans susceptible to the damaging effects of the diesel exhaust.

Libya’s most prominent prostate cancer patient, Abdelbasset al Megrahi, convicted as the “Lockerbie bomber,” and released on compassionate grounds of his illness, either is or is not in an intensive care unit.

Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the murder of 270 people on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. Some relatives of British victims and some political commentators believe that Megrahi was a fall guy for Syrian involvement. At the same time outrage is swirling over a perceived exchange of Megrahi for renewal of UK interest in Libyan oil.

Is Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi, the convicted and now released Lockerbie bomber, really on the brink of dying of prostate cancer? Official letters about his release from prison in Scotland omit his medical records. These records remain sealed.

According to a Libyan official Mr Megrahi, age 57, “is a dying man.” Libyan Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Mohammed Sialam, told reporters that al-Megrahi is in worsening condition and is not expected to survive much longer.

At home in Tripoli, over the weekend he was rushed to hospital. A British TV team was invited in to film him in his private room. Fluorescent light turns greenish on TV and he looks quite ill. Channel 4 (UK)’s Jonathan Miller says “It looked to me as though Abdel Basset al-Megrahi wasn’t long for this world.” But a vital signs monitor, which looks only half half hooked-up, shows his heart rate within normal range.

Updated Sept 1 2009 at Lockerbie Bomber Megrahi Hospitalized for Prostate Cancer

Bill Bradley in Aug 29 NY Times makes a pitch for combining health care reform with tort reform. From contacts with Republican prostate cancer patients I know tort reform constantly comes up. Bradley argues:

Since the days of Harry Truman, Democrats have wanted universal health coverage, believing that if other industrialized countries can achieve it, surely the United States can. For Democrats, universal coverage speaks to America’s sense of decency and compassion. Democrats also believe that it will lead to a healthier and more productive country.

ZD4054 is a potential anti-cancer agent now in a clinical trials around the world for men with metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer (HRPC) and for men with non-metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer.

The trials are run by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, which makes ZD4054. These two distinct trials differ significantly in the level of therapy offered to men who do not receive the novel (new and not yet proven) trial drug.

The novel drug is a selective endothelin-A receptor antagonist (SERA) from the same family as atrasentan (brand name Xinlay) and YM598. Xinlay, which for a while looked quite promising, failed to prove effective in clinical trials for prostate cancer in 2005 and did not win FDA approval.

A study published in Clinical Cancer Research August 18 2009 reports that an extract of the Chinese herb Wedelia (a member of the Asteraceae, or sunflower family of plants) shrinks the androgen receptor and prostate cancer in male mice.

“Wedelia chinensis,” the authors write, “is a common ingredient of anti-inflammatory herbal medicines in Taiwan and southern China. Inflammation is involved in promoting tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. This study aims to test the biological effects in vivo of W. chinensis extract on prostate cancer.”

Patients who experience fatigue during radiotherapy for breast or prostate cancer may be reacting to activation of the proinflammatory cytokine network, a known inflammatory pathway, according to a report in Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

• Fatigue is a major side effect of radiotherapy
• Inflammation mechanism suggests possible treatment option
• Test done in breast and prostate cancer

The Ride to Conquer Cancer and raise funds for Louisville, Kentucky’s Norton Cancer Institute is open for online check-ins.

“Over the course of two days, September 26-27, you will cycle on a monumental journey from Louisville to Lexington and back. The Ride will be challenging, but so is cancer. With your help, we can spread awareness and raise funds for cancer care — and one day a cure.”

Colin Powell, tennis champ John McEnroe and L.A. Dodger’s manager Joe Torre come together to save lives! They speak out on one of the deadliest cancers for men! Powell, McEnroe and Torre on surviving and preventing prostate cancer!