Men who have strong occurrence of breast and ovarian cancer have been found to have a higher risk of developing Prostate Cancer according to the National Prostate Cancer Coalition of Australia. The most aggressive genes responsible for the diseases in women will get a higher risk of contracting it for the link between the BRCA2 gene and its manifestation in males of the same bloodline has long been suspected but till now no direct link has been established. This new study has determined that the occurrence of the gene in males from families with women who have had the diseases do get prostate cancer than those with no family history of the disease. Current tests such as Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) have the ability to detect both benign and malignant form of the disease, the earlier being of no serious threat to the health of the individual.

“Men can have prostate cancer and it won’t cause a problem, or they can have prostate cancer and it will kill them,” Dr Suthers said. “We have tests, but they don’t distinguish between those two types. It may well be that the men with the BRCA2 gene have a more malignant type … If that’s confirmed in the next few years, it may mean there’s sufficient information to say that although PSA screening for the general population is not recommended, screening for men with the BRCA2 mutation may be warranted.”

Certain components of over the counter dietary supplements have a role in either rendering cancer treatments useless or ineffective according to scientists from UT Southwestern Medical Center. This increases the roles drugs and other treatments that may influence the success rates of various treatments available and doctors are now being advised not only to ask for all prescription drugs that are being taken but also for herbal and dietary supplements that may contain hormonal components that are defeating the treatment methods. Researchers have found that certain herbal supplements have levels of sex hormones (estradiol) and testosterone that have been found to exaggerate the growth of cancer cells in the prostate cancer sufferers. The FDA has been notified of their findings and recommendations or warnings would be issued soon to prevent the failure of screening and treatment regimens. Dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA due to natural ingredients but the results of the study may require them to be tested as if they were synthesized drugs that interact with other drugs. In the US, 42 to 69% of all adults use these dietary supplements and that huge a number requires close attention from the FDA.

“Given that testosterone supplements are in high demand, there is significant concern that supplements, in addition to the one we evaluated, may pose an urgent human health risk.”

Researchers in the University of Michigan are developing and testing a urine test that is more accurate than current screening methods in the drive to detect prostate cancer earlier. The test that comes as a urine test screens for the presence of four different RNA markers has been successful in detecting 80% of all cases in a study that was done to detect the disease. It also has the ability to determine men with enlarged prostates that do not develop the disease thus prevents misdiagnosis and treatment for non-existent conditions.

“Relative to what is out there, this is the best test so far,” said the study’s lead author, Arul Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology at the University of Michigan.

The development of their prototype into a first generation testing kit is underway as more and more genetic markers are being discovered to be related to the disease.

The links between diabetes and Prostate cancer has been strengthened by the discovery by researchers of six genes that are associated with prostate cancer. One gene called JAZF1, in particular of the 16 now associated with diabetes has been shown to have a definitive cause of prostate cancer which is broadening their view of possible genetic cures for the disease. A variant of the diabetes causing gene, JAZF1 is undergoing further studies to show the relationship with diabetes for they occur at different parts of the gene.

“The remarkable recent progress in identifying regions of the genome that increase risk to diabetes—from 3 to 16 in only a year—will help us unravel the complex basis diabetes and may suggest new and better tailored methods to prevent or treat this disease.,” said U-M’s Michael Boehnke, the lead scientist on the Finland-United States Investigation of Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus Genetics (FUSION) study group, one of the three lead groups in the study.”

These are just some of the new medical marvels that are being revealed by studying the human genome and the roles genes and other particles within our DNA and the role’s they play that results in the disease.

Danish scientists have found through a 35 year study that the risk of developing prostate cancer in married men is higher that in unmarried ones. The study started through interviews and exams followed by the extensive 35year follow ups that showed, men with less children having the highest risks of developing prostate cancer. Unmarried men and those with more than one children have lower Prostate cancer risks but the idea that becoming a father increases you risk of getting the disease is a controversial one. More studies are being conducted to understand other factors that might have affected the study such as underlying biologic, environmental, social and behavioral factors that may have caused such results for linking fatherhood with prostate cancer is a very controversial claim.

Doctors have long been looking for the magic bullet that would miraculously cure the many diseases that plagues human beings leading to much death and despair. A new technique that is based simply on the premise that blocking the insulin-like growth factor (IGN-1) has been disproved by new studies for the blocking of IGF interacted with cancer suppression gene p53 and further accelerated the growth of tumors. The blocking of the said IGN-1 was being pursued by many researchers and the newer study shows it does not reduce nor prevent further growth leaving it merely the same size as they started with.