PCa & Alzheimer's disease

[pjoshea13]

New study [1] below:

"Causes of death among cancer patients."

"Prostate cancer patients had increasing SMRs {standardized mortality ratios} from Alzheimer's disease".

..

From a study last month [2]:

"We recently found an association between androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) and Alzheimer’s disease. As Alzheimer’s disease is a disease of advanced age, we hypothesize that older individuals on ADT may be at greatest risk."

"... we find that, compared to younger individuals, men aged 70 years or older on ADT have a clinically significant increase in absolute Alzheimer’s disease risk."

"Multiple studies now demonstrate an association between ADT and neurocognitive dysfunction. The association of ADT and Alzheimer’s disease is supported by a number of plausible biologic mechanisms including through augmentation of β-amyloid protein levels11, interaction with the Apolipoprotein E gene12, a direct neuropathic effect13 and an increase in cardiometabolic disease. If ADT is truly causally associated with Alzheimer’s disease it likely contributes within a multifactorial etiology."

-Patrick

[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/278...

Ann Oncol. 2016 Nov 9. pii: mdw604. [Epub ahead of print]

Causes of death among cancer patients.

Zaorsky NG1, Churilla TM2, Egleston BL3, Fisher SG4, Ridge JA5, Horwitz EM2, Md JM2.

Author information

1(1) Department of Radiation Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia PA, United States. [e-mail].

2(1) Department of Radiation Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia PA, United States.

3(2) Department of Biostatistics, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia PA, United States.

4(3) Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia PA United States.

5(4) Department of Surgical Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia PA, United States.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

The purpose of our study was to characterize the causes of death among cancer patients as a function of objectives: (I) calendar year, (II) patient age, and (III) time after diagnosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS:

US death certificate data in SEER Stat 8.2.1 were used to categorize cancer patient death as being due to index-cancer, non-index-cancer, and non-cancer cause from 1973 to 2012. In addition, data were characterized with standardized mortality ratios (SMRs), which provide the relative risk of death compared to all persons.

RESULTS:

The greatest relative decrease in index-cancer death (generally from > 60% to < 30%) was among those with cancers of the testis, kidney, bladder, endometrium, breast, cervix, prostate, ovary, anus, colorectum, melanoma, and lymphoma. Index-cancer deaths were stable (typically > 40%) among patients with cancers of the liver, pancreas, esophagus, and lung, and brain. Non-cancer causes of death were highest in patients with cancers of the colorectum, bladder, kidney, endometrium, breast, prostate, testis; > 40% of deaths from heart disease. The highest SMRs were from non-bacterial infections, particularly among < 50 year olds (e.g. SMR > 1,000 for lymphomas, p < 0.001). The highest SMRs were typically within the first year after cancer diagnosis (SMRs 10 - 10,000, p < 0.001). Prostate cancer patients had increasing SMRs from Alzheimer's disease, as did testicular patients from suicide.

CONCLUSION:

The risk of death from index- and non-index-cancers varies widely among primary sites. Risk of non-cancer deaths now surpasses that of cancer deaths, particularly for young patients in the year after diagnosis.

© The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society for Medical Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [e-mail].

KEYWORDS:

SEER; United States; cancer; comorbidity; heart disease; mortality; second cancer

PMID: 27831506 DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdw604

[PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

...

[2] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[rhbishop2]

Well, that's cheery - the one proven effective treatment for PCa and it's likely to addle your wits. Personally I find it more likely that reading hypothetical speculations like this will affect your brain. I suppose these people have to keep publishing this sort of dubious 'research' but I wouldn't lose a minute's sleep over it. However, after five years of ADT I'm probably too far gone to make any rational assessment.

[pjoshea13 in reply to rhbishop2]

I once joined a breast cancer group where there was an interesting thread on iodine. What amazed me was the difficulty in finding informative posts. A lot of mutual support posts & cookie recipes. It would have been cruel to report on a link between BCa & another dread disease.

But I figured that, in a male group, it's best not to sanitize the research. The paper on Alzheimer's will motivate some to research how best to avoid it.

There are other studies that link ADT to increased risk of Alzheimer's, e.g. [1]

& testosterone supplementation has been shown to improve "spatial memory ... and constructional abilities ... and verbal memory", "in a sample of men with Alzheimer disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI)." [2]

One area of PCa which I feel gets little interest, is the role of inflammation. Cancer is an inflammatory disease as much as arthritis is. That's because NF-kB is chronically activated. It can be inhibited.

A paper from last month [3]:

"Inflammation, Antiinflammatory Agents, and Alzheimer's Disease: The Last 22 Years."

"Two basic discoveries spurred research into inflammation as a driving force in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The first was the identification of activated microglia in association with the lesions. The second was the discovery that rheumatoid arthritics, who regularly consume anti-inflammatory agents, were relatively spared from the disease. ..."

From Sep. [4]:

"Interactions between inflammation, sex steroids, and Alzheimer's disease risk factors."

"Because AD is multifactorial, recent research has focused on understanding interactions among the numerous risk factors and mechanisms underlying the disease. One mechanism through which several risk factors may be acting is inflammation. AD is characterized by chronic inflammation that is observed before clinical onset of dementia. Several genetic and environmental risk factors for AD increase inflammation, including apolipoprotein E4, obesity, and air pollution. Additionally, sex steroid hormones appear to contribute to AD risk, with age-related losses of estrogens in women and androgens in men associated with increased risk. Importantly, sex steroid hormones have anti-inflammatory actions and can interact with several other AD risk factors."

It may be instructive to look for AD papers on some of the natural products I have posted on. There are 59 PubMed hits for <alzheimer's[title] curcumin[title]>.

Longvida, a form of curcumin that passes through the blood-brain barrier [5] is likely to have a preventative effect.

There are fewer hit for resveratrol, but the micronized form that Dr. Myers favors (Nitro250) might have some value. [6]

-Patrick

[1] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/266...

[2] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/159...

[3] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/277...

[4] ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/276...

[5] swansonvitamins.com/now-foo...

[6] revgenetics.com/store/c-4-m...