HUP to test prostate cancer drug

Showcasing its role as a leader in medical research and health care, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania has agreed to be one of only 29 primary sites in the country to take part in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial. The PCPT is a clinical test of the drug Proscar's ability to prevent prostate cancer. While Proscar is only FDA-approved to treat enlarged prostates, some believe it may be able to prevent prostate cancer as well. Prostate cancer is a condition that affects about 50 percent of American men over the course of their lives. "One third of men aged 30 to 49 that died of gunshot wounds showed incidental signs of prostate cancer in their autopsies," said Otis Brawley, author of PCPT and program director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. Prostate cancer is a disease spreading at the rate of 180,000 to 200,000 new cases per year. According to Bruce Malkowicz , principal investigator for PCPT at HUP, the disease has caused 38,000 cancer-related deaths in the past year alone. "Prostate cancer is the number one cancer solely in men today," said Malkowicz, who is also co-director of the Urologic Oncology Program at the University's Cancer Center. PCPT is aiming to test a total of 18,000 men, aged 55 and over, for during a 10-year period. The participants must be healthy and undergo a digital rectal exam before being selected for the study. The study is also being conducted to examine why African Americans have exhibited a higher incidence of prostate cancer than the general population, said Carl Mansfield, past president of the American Cancer Society and a physician at Thomas Jefferson Medical Center. "We support the test because of the high incidence of prostate cancer in American males," Mansfield said. "It seems to be increasing especially among African Americans. It has reached epidemic proportions among them." "This cancer has clearly appeared differently among different ethnic groups," said Malkowicz. "We are trying to get minorities involved in the study." PCPT is part of an increased emphasis in medicine on disease prevention. If Proscar proves to prevent prostate cancer during the trial, it will preempt painful treatments undergone by prostate cancer patients. Current methods of treatment include surgery and radiation. "We are at a critical juncture," said John MacDonald, medical director of Temple University's Cancer Center. "Now we are at a point where we try to prevent diseases." The trial is being conducted at 222 primary and secondary sites across the country, with HUP, the Temple University Medical Center and Fox Chase Medical Center as the three principal sites in the Delaware Valley. At HUP, the trial currently has 20 men enrolled. They were selected out of a pool of 60 interviewed. The recruiting process will continue for three more years and will also involve HUP's affiliated Abington and Chester County Hospitals.