Every week, the editors of Cancer Today magazine bring you the top news for cancer patients from around the internet. Stay up to date with the latest in cancer research and care by subscribing to our e-newsletter.

Many Men With Metastatic Prostate Cancer Aren’t Receiving Standard-of-care Treatment

A recent study found that men who have metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer often aren’t getting guideline-recommended care. The findings, which were reported this week in the National Cancer Institute’s blog, Cancer Currents, found that nearly 70% of patients were given just one hormone-blocking agent for patients—even though guidelines recommend patients receive two types of hormone therapy, and, in some cases, the addition of chemotherapy. The study, published Dec. 9, 2024, in JAMA Network Open, was based on survey responses from 107 physicians who treated 617 people with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer between July 2018 and January 2022. Many physicians either lacked awareness of the new guidelines or were concerned about treatment side effects. However, the hormone therapy combination has been shown to increase survival and quality of life. For example, the combinations can reduce symptoms of prostate cancer and pain from fractures that are caused by bone metastases, physician-scientist Fatima Karzai told Cancer Currents. Karzai studies new treatments for prostate cancer at the National Cancer Institute but was not involved in the study. She encourages patients to educate themselves about treatment options. “I’m not suggesting that patients read all these clinical trial data and try to figure them out on their own,” she told Cancer Currents. “But really understand your disease. If it’s hormone-sensitive, talk to your doctor about what that means, and how the amount of cancer in your body affects your treatment choices. Talk about side effects. Ask about two- and three-treatment combinations and how they will make you feel. Ask: ‘What are the benefits? What are the risks?’”

Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Shows Signs of Lasting Immune Response

In pancreatic cancer, fewer than 13% of people live more than five years after diagnosis. But findings from a small phase I clinical trial suggest that a personalized mRNA vaccine could help spur a stronger immune response that could keep cancer at bay in patients with operable pancreatic cancer. Of the 16 patients in the study, eight patients produced long-lasting T cells and also had lower risk of recurrence three years after treatment, according to a Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center story about the study. This study provides a longer follow-up period than a previous study published in Nature in 2023, which suggested the approach induced substantial T-cell activity and delayed recurrence. Patients in the study all received surgery and standard of care treatment, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy. “You have to take this with a little perspective, this is not treating hundreds of thousands of people,” Brian Wolpin, a physician-scientist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, told NBC News. “The fact that they were able to use a vaccine to generate a response to new mutations that come up in the tumors, and then were able to show that this subsists, is promising,” said Wolpin, who was not involved in the study.

Yogurt May Lower Risk of More Aggressive Colon Cancer

A study that examined data from more than 150,000 people over three decades found that those who ate at least two servings of yogurt a week had lower rates of certain types of colorectal cancer, according to NPR. Specifically, those who regularly ate yogurt had lower rates of Bifidobacterium-positive proximal colon cancers, a type of colon cancer that is typically associated with worse survival outcomes. The research, published Feb. 12 in Gut Microbes, is part of growing evidence that suggests yogurt can be protective against cancer and other diseases. “Yogurt may be good for maintaining a good microbiome in our body,” Tomotaka Ugai, an author of the study and a physician-scientist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told NPR.