Does this answer seem correct to you. I asked my hospital a question:
Question to hospital
In prostate cancer, is there a correlation between testosterone levels at diagnosis and Gleason score. Or, to ask it another way, it is possible to prevent or delay progression of 3-3 prostate cancer by maintaining normal testosterone levels?
Answer from hospital
We contacted the Urology department, and we were advised that there is no correlation between testosterone levels and prostate cancer grade.
I figured that low testosterone is a cause of prostate cancer, and, at the least, people who have normal levels are less likely to get prostate cancer...
I don't know whether the answer given is correct or not but it sounds appropriate since the exact cause of PCa is not yet known. Medical researchers are continuously engaged In debating out various theories for this gene malfunction ( PCa ) most of the time without reaching consensus. Under such circumstances it is very unlikely that any hospital or their urological department would commit to a definite answer based on facts not firmly established, especially when individuals ask questions.
You may find answers to such questions as a matter of interest only when you research yourself and possibly find the answers in some research papers presented by Urologists and Oncologists from time to time. Otherwise the hospitals may think that you are trying to test the knowledge and expertise of their urological departments by asking such questions!
From what I reaseached no one will conclude there is a correlation, bit it is my opinion that yes the endocrine system is playing a huge part. it may not be the level or a number but a shift that throws things off balance. not a medical opinion just an opinion. can you subscribe to the medical journals. I think because of your love of knowledge as well that you speak to your doctor about getting access to medical journals and to ask which ones are the cream of the crop . medical research library . they are so smazing. being surrounded by so much knowledge .
That answer is correct by the definitions and published understanding about Prostrate Cancer. Typically, people with PCa do not have low testosterone.
IMHO, In some cases as Prostrate Cancer grows and the Prostrate expands in size, the testicles also increase in size to accommodate the growing call for demand of testosterone by the Prostrate Cancer.
I had low T and was dx'd with Gleason 8, considered aggressive, at age 66. T diminishes with age. PCa risk increases with age. Is it an age thing or a low T thing? A question yet to be answered?
My PSA was 1.2 and less for 10 yrs straight while my testosterone was double what it should have been for my age. The eleventh year my PSA went up to 4.2 and at the time of the biopsy was already up to 10.4. My Gleason scores were 10 and the cancer was found to have spread to my bones, lives and lymph nodes. My urologist said i had a very aggressive cancer that is appearing to be less rate today.
I think you may have it a bit backwards regarding testosterone level, but I may be wrong. If testosterone feeds prostate cancer, which it most definitely does, I would think that high testosterone would be more of an indicator for future and progression of prostate cancer mets. I don't know of any studies out there on this but if someone does, please let me know. I really want to educate myself.
something in the testosterone story is not quite right. and its not clear how to fix it. everyone does agree that testosterone plays an important part in the prostate and in prostate cancer. T is a sex hormone in a sex organ. But the level inside the cell is most likely what is important, and the question posed is about the level in the bloodstream, not the cell.
To make an unrelated 'feeds' analogy: even though you need energy to fight, and you need food to have energy, it is not clear that you will fight more if you have more food. You might fight over food if it gets low. this is just an example that the 'feeds' idea does not automatically mean that more T means a more agressive PC because of logic alone, even if T "feeds" the prostate in some sense. To say that T "feeds" prostate cancer is just to say, using a different word, that T aggravates prostate cancer. It does not provide the mechanism.
And more importantly, it does not seem to explain how prostate cancer arises, even as distict from BPH.
I was diagnosed at age 65 with a PSA of 5,006 and lots of bone and lymph node mets, and a higher range Testosterone level of 908.
My "gut" feeling is that the higher range T did not in itself cause the prostate cancer and the mets. Perhaps some random error or a long term inflammation process or an environmental exposure might have started the orginal tumor? I have no way to prove that, whatsoever. However, the prostate cancer cells that I did have when my PSA was 5,006 were well established to an environment that did have a high baseline T value of 908. When I went on ADT with Lupron, my PSA of 5,006 dropped rapidly and reached a nadir of 1.0. Very responsive to hormone therapy.
Conversely, my "gut" feeling is that if I had had a very low T baseline, my prostate cancer cells might already have been somewhat adapted to living in a lower T environment, and might have been less responsive to hormone therapy, and might have been considered more aggressive in nature when they were less responsive to hormone therapy? Again, this is only a speculation.
(By the way, I was also screened for 50-ish familial genes such as BRCA-2, etc., but, did not test positive for any of those, which might have otherwise complicated the picture.)
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Testosterone Therapy in Men with Advanced Prostate Cancer / June 2019
Is it true that Testosterone is not the culprit causing Advance Prostate Cancer, Estragon is?
Is there seasonality to testosterone levels?
