UPDATE - Issue 37 - Summer 2009
Reducing the risk of prostate cancer
Results of the first ever study of the chemoprevention of prostate cancer have just been announced. The study, REDUCE, an acronym for the Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer, lasted four years. It was an international randomised placebo-controlled study of 8,200 men between the ages of 50 and 75 years with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels and negative prostate biopsies. Baseline PSA levels ranged from 2.5 to 10 ng/mL.
Patients either received 0.5mg of dutasteride daily or placebo.
There were a total of 659 cases of cancer in the dutasteride group and 875 in the placebo group. This amounts to a 23% reduction in risk through taking the drug.
Dutasteride (Avodart) is more usually prescribed for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) where it operates by shrinking the prostate gland. Researchers noted that it may be that by shrinking the prostate, dutasteride also shrinks the tumours. Risk was most markedly reduced in the number of high-grade tumours. This important second effect is thought to be related to type 1 receptor inhibition a particular feature of dutasteride not present in finasteride (another BPH drug) that only acts on type 2 receptors.
Lead researcher Dr Gerald Andriole stated ‘There is currently no approved treatment for risk reduction in prostate cancer, I would recommend chemo-prevention for high-risk men based on these results. It is certainly enough to convince me. I would take it.’