Hair-loss drug may help detect prostate tumor

17 September, 2007

Finasteride, a drug used for hair loss as well as for preventing prostate cancer, may offer a third advantage by helping physicians detect the most vicious prostate tumors in earlier stages.

Researchers in Israel and the United States have reported that they could dispel fears that finasteride might somehow cause the high-grade tumors.

Two studies, published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, show that the drug appears to be keeping the prostate gland small, making it easier to find dangerous tumors inside or on the surface.

Dr Ian Thompson, of the University of Texas, wrote in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute: “It appears that a man concerned about prostate-cancer risk, who is having a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test on a regular basis, will not only reduce his risk of prostate cancer if he takes finasteride but also will help find the cancers that pose the highest risk.”

According to the American Cancer Society, an estimated 219,000 men in the United States will, in 2007, be diagnosed with cancer of the prostate – a walnut-sized gland that makes fluid for semen – and 27,000 will die of it.

Finasteride, available generically but also sold as a hair-loss drug by Merck and Company under the brand name Propecia, can reduce the risk of prostate cancer by 25%.

Diagnosing prostate cancer is tricky. The gland can enlarge naturally, and it also produces a protein called prostate-specific antigen (PSA).

Doctors can feel an enlarged gland with a finger, or can measure PSA in the blood. PSA goes up as the prostate enlarges, but it also rises if there is a tumor in the gland.

A biopsy can find cancer, but doctors take samples randomly and can easily get several pieces of healthy tissue instead of a nearby tumor.

When finasteride was studied for its potential in preventing cancer, researchers noticed that the men who did get cancer were slightly more likely to have aggressive tumors.

It was feared that finasteride itself somehow made cancer worse if it was already present, though it lowered the overall risk of cancer by nearly 25%.

Yael Cohen, of Gamida Cell in Jerusalem, and colleagues found that prostate size in the finasteride group was 25% smaller than in men who got placebos – thus making it easier to find the tumors.

Dr Scott Lucia, of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Centre in Denver, the United States, and colleagues made similar findings.