By: Kathy Hubbard
About one in eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetime. As a matter of fact, it’s second to skin cancer as the most common cancer in men. The American Cancer Society says that although prostate cancer can be a serious disease, most men don’t die from it.
“The prostate cancer death rate declined by about half from 1993 to 2022, most likely due to earlier detection and advances in treatment,” ACS says on their website.
You probably know that the prostate gland makes and stores seminal fluid which is the milky liquid that protects and nourishes sperm. It surrounds part of the urethra, the tube that carries urine and semen out of the body. Most prostate cancer develops in the zone of the prostate near the rectum.
ACS says that research into the causes, prevention, detection, testing, and treatment of prostate cancer is being done in many medical centers throughout the world. As always when we talk about cancer, early detection is always a pathway to remission and a longer life.
For starters, they say that new research on gene changes in prostate cancer cells is helping researchers learn how prostate cancer develops.
“This could help design medicines to target these changes. Learning more about these gene changes might be helpful in other ways as well, such as identifying which men are most likely to develop (or already have) prostate cancer; determining which men might need a second prostate biopsy, even if an initial biopsy doesn’t find cancer; determining which prostate cancers are most likely to grow and spread (and therefore should be treated); determining if specific treatments such as newer targeted therapy drugs might be helpful, and identifying which men might benefit from genetic testing to see if they inherited a gene change (and therefore might have a higher risk for other cancers as well).”
Researchers are looking at particular foods and/or the substances in them to find those that can lower prostate cancer risk. ACS tells us that scientists have found some substances in tomatoes (lycopenes) and soybeans (isoflavones) that might actually prevent some prostate cancers.
“Scientists are also trying to develop related compounds that are even more potent and might be used as dietary supplements. But so far, most research suggests that a balanced diet including plenty of fruits and vegetables is probably of greater benefit than taking specific substances as dietary supplements,” ACS explains.
Some research has found men who regularly take some medicines such as aspirin or cholesterol-lowering statins are at lower risk, but more research is needed on that. And they are working on hormonal medicines that show promise for reducing prostate cancer risk.
With early detection on our minds, the once gold-standard of testing, the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test is called “not perfect” by the ACS. “It misses some cancers, and
sometimes it finds cancers that would probably never need to be treated. Researchers are working on strategies to address these issues.”
They list a number of other types of biomarkers that are considered more accurate. You can find that list on their website. However, they do say that these tests aren’t likely to replace the PSA test any time soon.
As for treatments, improvements are being made to current methods. “An important area of research is determining which men with early-state prostate cancer need to be treated right away, and which men might choose monitoring (active surveillance or observation) as a reasonable option,” ACS says.
“Some newer molecular tests (also known as genomic tests) look for certain gene or protein changes in prostate cancer cells to help determine how quickly the cancer is likely to grow and spread. The results of one of these tests can be used to help determine if the cancer needs to be treated.”
Technological advances are improving techniques for surgery and radiation therapy with a goal of lowering the risk of complications and side effects. For early-stage cancers, doctors are now looking at whether ablative treatments can be helpful. Hormone, chemo, and immunotherapies are going through studies as are new approaches to treating prostate cancer that has spread to one or more areas.
We’ve come a long way with cancer treatment, but we have a longer path ahead. Hopefully these inroads will allow us to get there faster.
Kathy Hubbard is a member of the Bonner General Health Foundation Advisory Council. She can be reached at kathyleehubbard@yahoo.com. This article was written for publication in the Bonner County Daily Bee on September 3, 2025.
