- A second-generation androgen receptor blocker added to other prostate cancer treatments improves five-year survival rates for people with metastasized disease.
- The blocker, enzalutamide, improved outcomes in a range of prostate cancers even where chemotherapy is ineffective.
- Enzalutamide works by reducing the ability of prostate cancer cells to bind to testosterone, which promotes cancer growth.
Adding a second-generation androgen receptor inhibitor when treating metastasized
Significantly more patients who received enzalutamide in addition to standard treatment survived after five years than those who received standard treatment alone.
The study found that enzalutamide increased survival rates when added to the standard treatment of testosterone suppression plus
The four-year survival rate for patients receiving standard therapy is 57%, while the five-year survival rate for those who also received enzalutamide was 67%.
The study is published in
Prostate cancer is the second-most common cancer in men after skin cancer. According to the
Prostate cancer occurs when cells in the prostate gland, which is located beneath the bladder and in front of the rectum, become cancerous.
Most, though not all, prostate cancers are slow-growing, and the disease is not fatal more often than it is. The ACS estimates there are more than 3.1 million men living in the U.S. with diagnosed prostate cancer.
For men who are diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer that has not metastasized — that is, it has not…
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