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Education and Early Detection
are Lethal Weapons Against
Prostate Cancer
Actor Danny Glover has been on a mission -- but this time, without his
famous sidekick, Mel Gibson. As co-spokesman for Prostate Cancer
Awareness Week several years ago, Glover joined retired U.S. Army Gen.
Norman Schwarzkopf, himself a prostate cancer survivor, to increase awareness
of this potentially deadly disease. The program is sponsored by the
Prostate Cancer Education Council.
Prostate cancer has now surpassed lung cancer as the leading form of
cancer in American men. An estimated 334,500 men will be diagnosed
with prostate cancer this year, and more than 41,800 will die from it.
Over the past decade, the number of deaths from prostate cancer has increased
50 percent.
Deadly for Blacks...
The statistic that is most alarming to Glover, however, is that African-Americans
are two and a half times more likely to get the disease than any other
ethnic group in the world.
Just why African-American men have the highest incidence of prostate
cancer is unknown. Research shows that they typically develop the
disease earlier than their white counterparts, but are diagnosed later
in the disease process; one reason why their mortality rate is higher than
that of whites.
One in every eight African-American men will develop the disease in
his lifetime. While statistics are sometimes hard to decipher, the
Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported in November 1996 that,
compared to a prostate cancer incidence rate of 186.8 cases per 100,000
white males, African American men face an incidence of more than 305.4
cases annually per 100,000 population.
While there was some rejoicing over the fact that these rates dropped
16 percent last year for white men, the incidence increased 2 percent in
blacks; which essentially maintains the status quo.
Glover joined the American Urological Association and the American Cancer
Society in urging African American men to begin getting their annual PSA
test at age 40 -- several years earlier than the recommendation for white
males.
Gene Research Reveals Links
In November, 1996 researchers at the National Center for Human Genome
Research, The Johns Hopkins University and Umea University in Sweden, identified
the location of the first major gene that predisposes men to prostate cancer.
The gene, called HPC-1 (hereditary prostate cancer 1) -- situated on the
long arm of chromosome 1-- is the first proof that genes conferring hereditary
predisposition to prostate cancer exist.
The research team reported that the gene seems to contribute to prostate
cancer risk in a number of ethnic backgrounds, including African-American
families. The study suggests that approximately 1 in every 500 men
possess an altered version of the gene. Researchers estimate that
alterations in the HPC-1 gene are responsible for at least a third
of familial prostate cancer, which accounts for about 1 in 10 cases of
the disease. Scientists were optimistic that the HPC-1 gene may help
unlock the mystery of why African-American men are exceptionally vulnerable
to the disease.
While scientists say that the development of a susceptibility test is
still several steps and years away, combining a genetic susceptibility
test in the future with the PSA test will be of tremendous value in preventing
untimely deaths from this common disease.
Education is the Best
LETHAL WEAPON...
“More than 2.5 million men have participated in Prostate Cancer Awareness
activities since the program began in 1989. Unfortunately, “Glover
pointed out, “only five percent of the participants each year have been
African Americans. If black men don’t know about or take advantage
of the screening programs, they cannot be part of the 58 percent of all
cases that are discovered while the cancer is still localized and at its
most curable stage.” “Until there is a cure for prostate cancer,” the actor continued, “the
best weapons in the fight against this killer are education and early detection.” |
