PCA Cure and when?

[Nowhereman9]

7 months into my fight against castration sensitive prostate cancer. PSA is 0 on ADT and Abiraterone and methylprednisolone. Averaged 8,600 steps/day. I have just started to add occasional sprinting. I am taking multiple supplements. I am greatful that my PSA is 0. I work everyday and pray for a cure. What is our best hope for a cure and when?

[Maxone73]

Hi! More or less my same situation and diagnosis, even the PSA at diagnosis was the same! Best hope as in definitive solution, could be only genetic therapy/editing, especially using CRISPR technique (for the first time two crispr treatments were approved by the end of 2023, for beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease), because cancer at the end of the day is highly genetic (inherited or somatic). We are not that far from making prostate cancer a chronic disease, which would basically mean treatment for life but not a significantly shorter life expectancy, there are at least 5-6 different ways that they are using to tackle the problem. The question of when is harder to answer. Traditionally it takes 10-15 years from drug "discovery" to marketing. Now with computers and AI it seems we have already removed like 3-4 years from the equation as these tools develop molecules with an incredible speed and precision compared to human researchers. Since survival gets longer and longer, they are also looking for surrogate endpoints because waiting for a measure of overall survival could man waiting for years and years, and we need to speed up the process.

Personally I have an ideal strategy in mind, ambitious but not too ambitious: if I can go 5 years without significant worsening (actually I had and I have zero symptoms) I think I can have another good 5 years, which makes 10...in 10 years I suspect we won't be talking about dying from prostate cancer anymore. It's ambitious, but honestly since my diagnosis I have posted data from so many trials about prostate cancer, I would not say a different one daily, but 2-3 per week for sure. They are working on it a lot, because it's becoming more and more common, and of course because there is a lot of money to make in this "market" as long as they keep you alive!

[tango65]

Metastatic PC is not possible to cure, but it can be controlled by a long time measured in years.

[6357axbz in reply to tango65]

No cure has been discovered yet. Other metastatic cancers have been cured.

[tango65 in reply to 6357axbz]

There are long remission in liquid cancers, but I am not aware of a cure of solid metastatic cancers. If you have info, please posted here.

[allmo in reply to tango65]

Just ask Jimmy Carter about metastatic melanoma to the brain and Keytruda.

[tango65 in reply to allmo]

One swallow doesn't make a summer. Besides, we don't know if his disease has progressed and he has had other treatments.

Melanoma is one of the very few solid tumor with a good response to immunotherapy.

[dhccpa in reply to tango65]

You rule out any possibility of either a cure or indefinite management without reduced life, or just a flat out cure?

[tango65 in reply to dhccpa]

There are some patients who can be managed for many years. Some may have no evidence of disease for years. The game is to manage the disease and people eventually die from other causes.

I never read a study in metastatic PC saying that patients had a achieved a cure.

[JohnInTheMiddle]

Bravo exercise Now Here! My situation is as similar - I noticed you didn't do any chemo i.e. Docetaxel. Max's speculations and strategy is great. I also take supplements and try to exercise. Lately fatigue and exercise has been more difficult. But no disabilities!

[MrG68]

There's no 'cure' for cancer. But it depends on your definition of what a cure is.The only thing that can indiscriminately target cancer cells is your immune sysyem. You may be able to surgically cut out cancer, but that's only what you are able to detect.

Personally I think you should ask a different question: what can I possibly do to slow down and/or stop the spreading of the cancer I have.

Most people can't agree if cancer is genetic/metabolic/both. We're a long way off any cure.

[Tall_Allen]

Think of it as a managed disease, like HIV or diabetes, that is impossible to cure with current medical technology.

[MoonRocket in reply to Tall_Allen]

This is exactly what my urologist said before handing me off to the RO and MO, We treat this like you have diabetes.

[Nowhereman9 in reply to Tall_Allen]

Should we think of it as a biological weapon then?

[Tall_Allen in reply to Nowhereman9]

I think of medicines as medicines.

[sandystarfish]

I hate this disease-PCA. Other cancers go into remission or disappear. This beast seems to always come back & these new so called breakthroughs like Pluvicto don't seem to be effective at all. My better half is fighting the beast but i walk around as if the big black bear is going to jump out & swallow us soon. Its awful to live like this.

[maley2711 in reply to sandystarfish]

which other METASTATIC cancers ????? Few other cancers have the early detection of PCa, and PCa one of the least deadly as a result. Similar to breast cancer as far as death rate....and I don't believe metastatic breast cancer is curable either....or "in remission".

You are too young for an old man's disease for sure...understand your fear and frustration....normal of course.

[Maxone73 in reply to maley2711]

google jimmy carter cancer, of course luck and god knows what else! 😃😃 a 30 years remission would not sound bad to me…. But bone metastasis make everything more complicated (even if there is research devoted just to those!)

[MoonRocket in reply to sandystarfish]

Head and Neck cancers are worse. The treatment options are worse and often disfiguring, the SEs of Radiation are worse and if you don't get it early enough, very deadly, much more than PCA. A survivor of head and neck cancer often has life altering SEs. I know this because my wife is a tongue cancer survivor. Be grateful he as prostate cancer and not head and neck cancer. I know I am, everyday.

[hopeful1956 in reply to sandystarfish]

Yes. I agree. It's been 2 1/2 yrs since my husband has been diagnosed and I'm having a harder time dealing with this than he is (or so it seems).

[London441]

Add weightlifting to your steps and sprinting. Otherwise expect significant muscle loss while waiting for that cure. You may be only 51, but it that loss happens swiftly without intervention, and you definitely don't want that This is especially true if you are not able to hold the disease down with abiraterone alone indefinitely, which you can't.

Combined with your otherwise good exercise habits lifting is your best defense against the disease, beyond the conventional treatments and medicines.

[Cooolone]

Then President Richard Nixon declared WAR on Cancer in 1970 if I recall correctly... We never won, not will WIN that war... There is NO Cure for Cancer. As noted though, some therapies today allow for the disease to be treat more akin to a chronic condition than one with immediate end points, especially true in Prostate Cancer with the exception of a small percentage of patients.

Cure... Is a personal view, expectation and experience! But something we all immediately grab onto once diagnosed! Weirdly like trying to grab onto an early morning mist... Fleeting and impossible, yet we try. Because at the very least, even for those who treat once and are finished, the anxiety of recurrence never quite goes away! So are you cured when always testing and trying to stay in front of any possible reappearance or latent development of your disease? Of course not... Cure... Is a funny word!

Good Luck

[Nowhereman9 in reply to Cooolone]

like the war on terror it’s probably the opposite of what is stated

[Maxone73]

let me add something to cheer you up, that can also show you what I meant with my previous answer: hims.uva.nl/content/news/20...

[MoonRocket]

I wouldn't get wrapped up in the cure business. I doubt we'll ever see one. The cell biology is too complex. There will be advances in personalized treatments, Parp Inhibitors and other immunological treatments but I doubt a cure will found. But one can always hope.Start weight training and up the cardio so you can live the best life possible while fighting the disease.

[Explorer08]

Dr. “Snuffy” Myers said in his book and videos that there is no cure….only the hope for durable remission.

[SteveTheJ]

No one can answer that question. Currently from my understanding "cures" are experimental and possibly toxic so not approved for everyone.

[NecessarilySo]

I believe that there are natural cures, like heat and lycopene and the immune system. We just can't prove it. So, we keep looking at poisons and radiation.

[Vishwa1890]

Don’t know if this person really conquered it by following certain diet regimen.

youtu.be/08f332Z9DLA?si=3My...(Not working as expected?)

[j-o-h-n]

Death is the Cure...........

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n

[Don_1213]

I know a noted cancer researcher (immunotherapy and some other things) who has predicted privately that a cure for PCa will be found, and from some personal talks - not in the far too distant future.

The cure will be achieved by killing ALL the cancer cells without killing the patient. That sounds like a good definition to me.