Canada has over 60 Prostate Cancer Support Groups that meet once a month. This Richmond group in British Columbia is founded in 2013 by volunteers and focused on providing help to Chinese-speaking men, but everyone is welcome. We speak English, Cantonese and Mandarin, meet on the second Thursday of every month from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at the Seniors Centre of Minoru Centre for Active Living (7191 Granville Avenue, Richmond, BC V6Y 1N9 Multipurpose Room 1 (1033)). Join us for the professional presentation and talk to other men and family members who have been dealing with prostate cancer for weeks, months or even years.

No registration is required and all ages are welcome. Please swipe your Facility Pass ($36/year for seniors 55+ or spouses) or pay a $5 drop-in fee at the front desk when arriving for each session.

If you want to chat one on one with a survivor, you may drop in our walking club. The Richmond Blue Walkers walk 5-10 km on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9 am-11 am, along the beautiful river dykes and parks in Richmond (Walk in the Richmond Shopping Centre during the rainy days or cold seasons). Click here for the schedule or contact Daniel Leung at 604-836-6423 for the locations and meeting places.

The Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada accepts donations online, please go to http://prostatecanada.ca/ 捐款前列腺癌基金會請到 http://prostatecanada.ca/

此支援小組乃義工組織,我們講英語普通話廣東話幫助您了解良性前列腺疾病與前列腺癌的病徵預防治療康復與最新醫療硏究等資訊每月第二個星期四下午6:30-8:30在「明納健康活動中心」的長者中心多用途活動室1 (1033)

每次都需要在前台的會員證(55歲以上長者年費$36),也可以付$5的單次場地費

列治文前列腺癌友步行團「藍天健行」每週二和週四早上9時至11時沿著美麗的河堤和公園散步在下雨天或寒冷季節步行於列治文購物中心)。點擊查詢活動更新 打電話604-836-6423 (Daniel)

This blog is provided as a public service. Any persons using the information or documents provided on the blog do so at their own risk.

You are advised to seek professional services from licensed physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists and health care professionals, if and when necessary.

Saturday, December 12, 2015

“自殺”基因療法殺滅前列腺癌細胞 'Suicide' gene therapy kills prostate cancer cells


Prostate cancer cellImage copyrightScience Photo Library
Image captionThe therapy causes prostate cancer cells to self destruct

A new gene therapy technique is able to modify prostate cancer cells so that a patient's body attacks and kills them, US scientists have discovered.
The technique causes the tumour cells in the body to self-destruct, giving it the name 'suicide gene therapy'.
Their research found a 20% improvement in survival in patients with prostate cancer five years after treatment.
A cancer expert said more research was needed to judge its effectiveness.
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK with more than 41,000 diagnosed each year.
The study, led by researchers from Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, appears to show that this 'suicide gene therapy', when combined with radiotherapy, could be a promising treatment for prostate cancer in the future.
The technique involves the cancer cells being genetically modified so that they signal a patient's immune system to attack them.
Usually, the body does not recognise cancer cells as the enemy because they have evolved from normal healthy cells.
Unlike an infection, which the body reacts against, the immune system does not react to kill off the offending cancer cells.
Using a virus to carry the gene therapy into the tumour cells, the result is that the cells self-destruct, alerting the patient's immune system that it is time to launch a massive attack.

Good survival

In two groups of 62 patients, one group received the gene therapy twice and the other group - who all had more aggressive prostate cancer - received the treatment three times.
Both groups also received radiotherapy.
Survival rates after five years were 97% and 94%. Although there was no control group in this study, the researchers said the results showed a five to 20% improvement on previous studies of prostate cancer treatment.
And cancer biopsy tests performed two years after the trial were found to be negative in 83% and 79% of the patients in the two groups.
Dr Brian Butler, from Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, said it could change the way that cancer is treated.
"We may be able to inject the agent straight into the tumour and let the body kill the cancer cells.
"Once the immune system has knowledge of the bad tumour cells, if they pop up again, the body will know to kill them."

'Next generation'

Kevin Harrington, professor of biological cancer therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research, London, said the results were "very interesting" but more research was needed.
"We would need a randomised trial to tell if this treatment is better than radiotherapy alone.
"The viruses used in this study cannot reproduce. Next generation viral therapies for cancer can selectively replicate in cancer cells, something that can kill the cancer cell directly, and also help spread the virus to neighbouring cancer cells.
"It would be interesting to see this approach used with viruses that could reproduce to see if it makes for a more effective treatment."

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