Inflammation during prostate cancer deadly

SAN DIEGO, March 19 (UPI) -- Inflammation associated with the progression of prostate-cancer tumors may help the disease to spread, say California researchers.

The research, which appears online in advance of publication in the journal Nature, identified a mechanism that triggers metastasis, or the spread of cancer through the body.

One in six U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year, and one in 33 will die of metastatic disease. Early tumors confined to the prostate can be treated, but metastatic cancer cannot be treated, according to study investigator Dr. Steven L. Gonias.

"Our findings suggest promoting inflammation of the cancerous tissue, for instance by performing prostate biopsies, may, ironically, hasten progression of metastasis," Michael Karin, professor of pharmacology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, said in a statement.

"We have shown proteins produced by inflammatory cells are the 'smoking gun' behind prostate cancer metastasis. The next step is to completely indict one of them."