Get involved in Prostate cancer research

I'd like to highlight an opportunity to have your say!

It’s important to us that we fund the research that matters to men with prostate cancer and their friends and family. We want our research to make a real difference. And we’d like your help to make sure we get that right. What are the questions that you think our research should be setting out to answer?

I’ve put some example questions that we’ve been asked by men below, and would love to hear yours too. We’ll answer the questions on our website, and make sure that they’re all acknowledged (although if we get lots of questions about the same thing, we might group them together so the wording might be a bit different).

Examples:

• How close are we to a personalized treatment for prostate cancer based on a detailed analysis of the genetic make-up of the cancer(s) of an individual?

• My mother and wife both had breast cancer, I've had prostate cancer and my father died from the disease. Is it possible to give a rough estimate of the statistical likelihood of my son developing the condition? He’s only 21, so when should he begin to have tests for prostate cancer? Would it be worth his while to have any genetic testing done at his age?

• Why do hormone therapy drugs cease to be effective after a time, whereas drugs for other conditions, such as HIV, remain effective for a very much longer time?

• Are there psychological barriers to men choosing, and health professionals advising, active surveillance as a preferred option? And why do some men who have chosen active surveillance subsequently decide to have treatment, even when this is not considered necessary?

• Why is Docetaxel Chemotherapy still used when its success rate is so poor?

Add your voice to this debate and ask us your questions about prostate cancer research by replying to this topic. We hope that the discussions generated by these questions will help tell us what research we should be prioritising.

Edited by member 07 May 2014 at 10:30  | Reason: Not specified

Hi Roy L,

Re your question about treating the whole person: I was catching up on the "Ask Dr Myers" blog today. He is very much of the opinion that caring for health in general and cardiovascular health in particular, will have beneficial effects as far as helping to prevent PCa is concerned. He also suggested that this could help to reduce the progress of the disease.

His blog is well worth following for general information but bear in mind that a lot of what he says is based on the situation in the USA.

And another one:

Are there any circumstances in which someone with Gleason 6 should opt for surgery rather than active surveillance?

Thanks for your questions. I'll add them to our list - which is growing marvellously! It's great to hear so many questions and opinions about such an important issue.

Hi Everyone,

There are two public research events coming up that we thought you might be interested in. These events – one in London and one in Manchester - are to celebrate the Movember Centres of Excellence, and how they’ll be changing the future of prostate cancer research over the next few years. Please find the details below, as well as what you need to do if you’d like to attend.

Friday 19 September, 5 – 9pm, Education Centre, Royal Geographic Society, 1 Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR.

On Friday 19 September, Professor Johann de Bono will be talking about his work as part of the London Movember Centres of Excellence. Professor de Bono’s distinguished career has been built around developing new therapies for advanced cancer patients, including for men with advanced prostate cancer. At this event, he’ll talk about the work that he and the whole team of scientists and doctors involved in the London Movember Centre of Excellence will be doing to bring laboratory discoveries into the clinic over the next five years.

To attend this event, please email nela.alkhafaji@icr.ac.uk or phone 0208 661 3988.

Tuesday 28 October, 7.30 – 9pm, The Albert Square Chop House, The Memorial Hall, Albert Square, Manchester, M2 5PF.

To mark the launch of Movember 2014, Adam Garone – CEO, Movember - as well as Professors Richard Marais, Noel Clarke and David Waugh, co-directors of the Belfast-Manchester Movember Centre of Excellence will be talking about the future of prostate cancer research, and what changes men can expect to see in the next twenty years or so – thanks in part to research programmes like the Movember Centres of Excellence, in partnership with Prostate Cancer UK.

To register for this event, please go to: http://bit.ly/MovemberScienceEvent

Best wishes,

Jen

Prostate Cancer UK

Edited by member 09 Sep 2014 at 14:18  | Reason: Not specified

That's a great question, and I hope that some of the answers we've gathered will help to address at least part of it.

And that leads me on to the main part of my comment:

We’ve now published some of the questions you sent us back in the summer, with answers from the experts on our website, so please do check them out at http://prostatecanceruk.org/research-questions

We haven’t answered all the questions yet, so we’ll keep updating the page as we get more questions and answers in.
Thank you so much for your contributions, and if you have more questions, please do keep sending them through to researchquestions@prostatecanceruk.org.

Best wishes,

Sophie

Hi all,

I just wanted to make sure you saw a new event that we're running later this month: http://community.prostatecanceruk.org/posts/t10451-Pub-science-at-the-Men-United-Arms?g=posts&t=10451&=#

It's called 'pub science' and we've got a group of prostate cancer researchers who'll be sitting in the pub, taking questions from the audience from 6-730 on 31 January.

Have a look at the post, or go to http://prostatecanceruk/menunitedarms for more information - hopefully they'll be able to answer some of your excellent questions.

Thanks,

Sophie

Seconded.