As new RFAs are announced, this page will be updated with the relevant information.
For years, scientists have questioned why the same cancer treatment might work for one patient, but not another. Thanks in part to research funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, they now have some answers.
Scientists are beginning to understand that each patient doesn’t just have prostate cancer, they have their own particular form of prostate cancer. New technologies that allow us to identify the gene mutations in a patient’s tumor have resulted in the emerging field of precision medicine, which takes into account individual variability in genes, immune function, environment, and lifestyle for each person.
Mutations can exist both in the tumor itself, and in the genetic material passed down from your parents. This means that cancer, even prostate cancer, is a family problem. We now know: some of the genes that are responsible for prostate cancer are also responsible for cancers in daughters, and vice versa; for example, if your mom has the BRCA gene for breast cancer, this increases your risk for prostate cancer.
PCF is still doing what we’ve been doing for nearly 30 years now: saving men’s lives. But a new era in cancer treatment is coming, and PCF-funded research for prostate cancer already has overlap in 70 other cancers. PCF believes that this new form of thinking – precision oncology that looks at cancer risk across your whole family – is the key to finally unlocking the mystery of curing all cancer.