Aruna Turaka, M.D., lead author of the study and radiation
oncology fellow at the Fox Chase, explains that low oxygen in tumor or tumor hypoxia is known as a prominent risk factor in case of solid tumors.
How was the study done
In order to monitor the amount of oxygen received by prostate tumor and non-cancerous tissues, the researchers used a custom-built probe. This probe was used on 57 patients, who had low or intermediate risk of tumor, just before they were given some form of radiation therapy.
These patients were then tracked by the researchers to observe any correlation between amount of oxygen levels in prostate tumor tissue at the time of the therapy and increase in levels in PSA.
What the researchers found out
An average muscle was found to have 12.5 times higher amounts of oxygen than the tumor cell had, i.e. 30 mm Hg as against 2.4 mm Hg found in the tumor tissue.
Eight out of those 57 patients were found to have 2ng/ml increase in levels of PSA.
What do the findings mean
The researchers concluded that tumor hypoxia alone was capable of predicting reoccurrence of prostate cancer. They derived this conclusion after accounting for tumor size, age, Gleason score (score given to prostate cancer on the basis of its microscopic appearance), and risk factors for prostate cancer.
"Now", Turaka said, "the goal is to apply the results to the clinic.” For this, she said, they require a two-legged approach. One is to develop non-invasive methods of screening to recognize hypoxic tumor and the second is to have more effective anticancer weapons.
The results of this long term study were revealed at the annual meeting of the 2009 American Society of Clinical Oncology in Orlando, FL.
Post new comment