Researchers last week cautioned older men on the use of testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) after reporting the results of a study in which high levels of testosterone in men over age 50 were associated with a significantly increased risk of prostate cancer. Researchers from Johns Hopkins University and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) presented the data at the American Urological Association annual meeting.

The study analyzed nearly 2,900 serum samples collected over a 40-year period from 794 men participating in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study on Aging. Men with the highest free testosterone index had an 88 percent increased relative risk of prostate cancer compared with men with the lowest levels, says the study's lead author, Dr. J. Kellogg Parsons.

Dr. Howard L. Parnes, chief of the Prostate and Urologic Cancer Research Group in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Division of Cancer Prevention, agrees that the questions about prostate cancer risk and TRT are legitimate. "The concern is not limited to men at particularly high risk for prostate cancer," he says. "That's not just based on the results of this study, but on what we know of the biology of prostate cancer in general. These data are consistent with those concerns."  Read more  

In February, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved bevacizumab (Avastin) as a first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer. The approval marked the arrival of an intervention in which the primary mechanism of action is angiogenesis inhibition.

We now can unequivocally say that angiogenesis is not only a critical factor for cancer, but for a host of other diseases. Control and promotion of new blood vessel growth may offer important benefits in revascularization of ischemic tissue, improving diabetic wound healing, and many other conditions. The potential for angiogenesis research to improve so many lives underlies the formation earlier this year of the NIH Trans-Institute Angiogenesis Research Program (TARP). The overarching goal is that a multidisciplinary approach to angiogenesis research will accelerate the discovery of new interventions for a variety of diseases and conditions.

TARP was conceived following a visit to NCI by the leadership of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). It quickly grew to include scientists and clinicians from the JDRF; our two institutes; National Eye Institute; National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; and National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Last week the group hosted a two-day workshop that brought together international leaders (including those from industry) representing different angiogenesis research disciplines.
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This NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads a national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic and clinical biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.