Unfortunately, after a whole year of plummeting PSA (I could hear the roar of the tailspin), I have either leveled out or I'm going castrate resistant and I'm starting to rise. You can see from my stats below that in the past 4 months I've gone up about
0.8 of a point. From 0.69 (YAY!) to 1.4 (sigh!).
OK, that sucks and I'm not happy. But it's not even a whole point. Perhaps I'm levelling out and will stay level around 1.5 for another year or two.
I did go to see a specialist in Philly and she said that in six weeks we'll check against and see if it's rising.
Also in Philly I went to the Breast Cancer Center at the University of Penn in Philly to get tested for the BRCA2 gene mutation which runs in my family. Not surprisingly I tested positive and I am told this most likely caused the cancer which I got in my mid-40s. They are just now starting to do clinical studies with BRCA2 positive men who have PCa. I'm told that the PCa that comes with the BRCA2 mutation is "very aggressive" which is also no surprise considering how widespread my cancer is.
It sounds like PARP-inhibitors attack the cancer cells and cause them to self-destruct because the BRCA2 gene mutation they have in them is an Achilles heel. But the therapy only works when given in tandem with platinum chemotherapy, so it can't be given at the same time as Taxotere or Provenge. But it looks like it can be given at the same time as Lupron/Casodex so it may act together as a double-punch against the cancer.
Luckily the hospital just got a very large grant to clinically test PARP inhibitors but
a) It is not a cure.
b) It doesn't work with everyone
c) This particular lab only tested it on ONE prostate cancer guy so far (he went into remission)
d) It doesn't work forever
e) The chemo has toxicity and they don't know about
the threshold yet
f) It is YEARS away from being approved by the FDA
However, the clinical trials are just starting now and it is ANOTHER weapon in the arsenal against the BEAST.
For those men who are of Eastern European Jewish background in particular and have PCa, it may be wise to get tested for the BRCA2 mutation because it seems that it may give us another weapon on the level of Provenge or Zytiga to use in combo or in sequence to extend our lives and possibly give us the time we need to wait for a cure.
Here's articles on what's happening with PARP-inhibitors and the BRCA2 gene.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121009121203.htmwww.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/235851.php