PSA test works for recurrence of prostate cancer

[JimJimJimJim]

Jim Marshall (not a doctor) said ...

 

The discoverer of PSA, Richard J Ablin, has written a book "The Great Prostate Hoax".

 

It is important for men with advanced prostate cancer to know that Dr Albin is happy that the PSA test is used to test for the return of the cancer after initial treatment with surgery. This return of the cancer (recurrence) is what the PSA test was approved for in 1986.

 

So, as the PSA debate continues, have no doubt that if you have had initial treatment, the PSA test is a good way to find if the cancer has returned.

 

Dr Albin's concerns

 

Simply put:

PSA = Prostate specific antigen

NOT

Prostate cancer specific antigen

 

That is, the chemical PSA is specific to all prostate tissue. It is linked to normal prostate tissue and cancer prostate tissue. It is a measure of the prostate, not a measure of prostate cancer.

 

If you do try to use PSA as a measure of prostate cancer, it will indicate prostate cancer 78% of the time that there is no prostate cancer. This is called a false-positive rate of 78%.

 

Another hint for advanced men

 

An antigen is a chemical involved in the immune system.

 

Dr Albin had been destroying prostates (by freezing) in rabbits, dogs, baboons and rhesus monkeys, looking for a prostate cancer treatment. He saw an immune response (like a vaccine might have caused).

 

Freezing prostates in men, he discovered sometimes cancers far from the prostate (metastases) went into remission. Looking for antigens (immune system chemicals) that might have been involved in this immune-type response, Dr Albin discovered PSA.

 

But this hint, that attacking the cancer might provoke an immune response has led to more recent research for men with metastatic disease. 

 

One line of this research is looking at strongly attacking the first few metastases that occur. This is the trial of oligometastatic treatment by strong radiation that we had Dr Farshad Foroudi talk to us about in our phone-in meeting of August 2013. A couple of our members are involved in this trial.

 

... end Jim

 

Read the minutes of that meeting by clicking on this sentence.

OR

http://tinyurl.com/pobfbwk

 

Read an interview with Dr Ablin by clicking on this sentence.

OR

http://tinyurl.com/njezomz

 

[To access this link you may need to register on the site (Free as of 10 August 2014.)]

 

[Paul Edwards]

 

Jim Marshall (not a doctor) said ...

 

The discoverer of PSA, Richard J Ablin, has written a book "The Great Prostate Hoax".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There's been a lot of criticism about some of the claims in Albin's book, not least about his claim that he was the discoverer of PSA.

 

Here are links to articles which suggest that Dr T Ming Hu was the real discoverer of PSA:

 

http://www.ascopost.com/issues/december-15-2012/the-%E2%80%98true%E2%80%99-history-of-the-discovery-of-prostate-specific-antigen.aspx

https://www.roswellpark.org/cancer/prostate/about/history-psa