Each year nearly 33,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 10,000 die from the disease. It has become the most common cancer in men and mainly affects men over the age of 50. People affected and their families should be informed about all the options available to them - cryotherapyterm is one such treatment option.

Cryotherapy is based on the science of freezing at very cold temperatures to kill cancerous cells. This minimally invasive, non-surgical and non-radiation treatment freezes and destroys tumours. The treatment is performed by inserting very fine sealed needles directly into the tumours, through which Argon gas is circulated to reach sub-zero temperatures.

SEATTLE – Therapies under development to treat prostate cancer by inhibiting the ability of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) to activate its target receptor could have unexpected results especially if a major tumor suppressor gene – p53 – is already compromised, according to new research by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

IGF-1 is a polypeptide hormone that can influence growth, differentiation and survival of cells expressing the type 1 receptor (IGF-1R). Past clinical, epidemiological and experimental studies have strongly implicated IGF-1 as a contributing factor in the natural history of prostate cancer. However, very little has been done to prove absolutely that the expression or activation of the IGF-1 signaling pathway at physiologically relevant levels is sufficient to cause a healthy prostate cell to become a cancer cell.

PHILADELPHIA – A compound found in soybeans almost completely prevented the spread of human prostate cancer in mice, according to a study published in the March 15 issue of Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

Researchers say that the amount of the chemical, an antioxidant known as genistein, used in the experiments was no higher than what a human would eat in a soybean-rich diet.

Investigators from Northwestern University found that genistein decreased metastasistermterm of prostate cancer to the lungs by 96 percent compared with mice that did not eat the compound in their chow - making the study the first to demonstrate genistein can stop prostate cancer metastasis in a living organism.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers, in a first-of-its-kind study, have found that even men with advanced prostate cancer can take a much-needed safe break, or holiday, from chemotherapyterm.

The double-blind, randomized study, led by principal investigator Tomasz Beer, M.D., recently was published in the journal Cancer. Beer is the Grover C. Bagby Endowed Chair for Cancer Research, director of the OHSU Cancer Institute Prostate Cancer Program, and associate professor of medicine (hematology/medical oncology), OHSU School of Medicine.

Beer and his team wanted to know if men with metastaticterm, androgen-independent prostate cancer cancer that has spread from the prostate and is not affected by the male hormone, androgen could take a break from docetaxel, an intravenous chemotherapy delivery drug that is the gold standard treatment for androgen-independent prostate cancer. Docetaxel works by killing cancer cells and slowing cell growth. However, the drug also can cause side effectsterm, such as hair loss, nausea, loss of appetite and increased chance for infections. Chemo holidays can be a much-needed vacation from these side effects.