Men with prostate permalignant lesions have increased likelyhood of invasive prostate cancer

In the largest known study of its kind, scientists have confirmed that men with high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia or PIN, characterized by abnormal cells in the lining of prostate ducts, are at high risk for invasive prostate cancer. The study, presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research Third Annual International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research, showed that about one in three men with high grade PIN are at high risk for prostate cancer within a year of detection and should be closely monitored for disease progression.

“This study confirms that the increased risk factor associated with high-grade PIN is real and not just a coincidence,” said Dr. Mitchell S. Steiner, chief executive officer with GTx, Inc. “The next step is to develop an effective therapy for treating high grade PIN, before prostate cancer has a chance to take root. We know that there is a measurable window of opportunity for treatment before the cancer appears. “We must take advantage of that opportunity as a key step toward prostate cancer prevention.”

In this prospectively designed study, some 109 men with high-grade PIN and no prostate cancer at baseline were analyzed. In addition to the baseline biopsy, patients were re-biopsied at six and 12 months to test for the presence of prostate cancer. Results demonstrate that within one year, men in the placebo group had a 31.4 percent risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

A sub-set analysis of the placebo patients in a year long, chemopreventive toremifene study, which was also presented at the AACR meeting here, confirmed that men with high-grade PIN have an increased, cumulative risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer after one year. According to the National Cancer Institute, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in America among men. With an estimated 220,000 new cases diagnosed each year, one in every five men will get prostate cancer during his lifetime. African-American men are at special risk for the disease. In fact, the incidence rate in African-Americans is 60 percent higher than that in white males and double the mortality rate. An estimated 29,900 American men lose their lives to prostate cancer each year.