The article below, given the slow growth of prostate cancer cells, augers well for the future resolution of the cancer problem and should, I think, cause some patients to at least hesitate before electing for the surgeons knife.

Courier-Mail Queensland September 2-3, 2006

Good Cells Taught to Kill Cancer

DOCTORS have wiped out melanoma by re-engineering patients’ own cells marking the first time gene therapy has worked successfully against a cancer and raising hopes that the treatment can eradicate other forms of the disease.
US scientists took healthy immune cells from patients with advanced forms of skin cancer and taught the cells to recognize and destroy the cancer cells. Doctors then fed patients the tailor-made fighter cells intravenously, and their tumours gradually shrank.
Only two of the 17 patients in the study are still disease-free 18 months after the treatment. But doctors said that the research proved that the technique could help patients battling many forms of cancer.
“We can now convert normal lymphocytes into cells that can recognize very common cancers like breast, lung, ovary, prostate and so on. We haven’t treated those patients yet, but this represents proof that this kind of approach can work” study author Dr. Steven Rosenberg said.
“Since the trial began in December 2004, scientists had developed more advanced gene therapy techniques that could improve the results” he said

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