Soon, skin patches to beat prostate cancer

Oestrogen patches worn by women to relieve the symptoms of menopause could help men fight prostate cancer, scientists claim.
Patches giving oestrogen through the skin could be an easy and safe alternative to the hormone therapies used to treat prostate cancer, according to new research published in the Lancet Oncology, today.
The study by researchers at Imperial College London found that oestrogen patches, usually used to treat menopause symptoms in women, reduced levels of testosterone in men to a similar extent as the current hormone treatment, LHRHa injections.
Many prostate cancers need the male hormone testosterone to grow. Using drugs to reduce testosterone in advanced stages of the disease can shrink the tumour or slow growth.

LHRHa injections are the main treatment for reducing testosterone but these may also cause serious side-effects including osteoporosis, bone fractures and diabetes.
The trial compared the standard treatment � LHRHa injections � to oestrogen patches for men with locally advanced prostate cancer or tumours that have spread, in order to test the benefits and side effects from the patches.

As many as 254 men took part in the initial trial which showed patches appeared to suppress testosterone levels to a similar extent as LHRHa injections. Importantly the patches did not cause the same degree of heart and blood clotting problems caused by oestrogen tablets.

The researchers also found that those having the LHRHa treatment had higher blood glucose and cholesterol levels, which can increase the risk of heart disease compared to men treated with patches.
The initial trial has now been extended to look at 660 men to study the long-term effectiveness and side effects of oestrogen patches.
"These promising new findings suggest that we might be able to use oestrogen patches or an oestrogen gel to treat prostate cancer without significantly increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke," Dr Ruth Langley, study author from the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit, said.

"We think the reason oral oestrogen caused these side effects is because the oestrogen reached the liver in high concentrations straight from the stomach, whereas if the oestrogen can be absorbed through the skin the effect on the liver is avoided," Langley said in a statement.
"The next step is to test if the oestrogen patches are as effective at stopping the growth of prostate cancer as the current hormone treatments. We're now testing this in over 600 patients and some early results could be available later this year," Professor Paul Abel, honorary consultant in urology at Imperial College Healthcare.