It is estimated that one in every eight Irish men will be affected by prostate cancer during the course of their lifetime. If the cancer is found at an early stage, for example when the cancer is only in the prostate, then nearly all men will survive. However, if the cancer spreads from the prostate to another part of the body, called metastatic cancer, then only three men out of every ten will survive. From other studies it is known that men who are overweight are more likely to develop this type of aggressive cancer. Fat cells release different compounds in to the blood, called proteins, which can affect the way cancer grows, and how it responds to anti-cancer drugs. It may be possible, through exercise, to change the amount and types of proteins released in to the blood, therefore helping to improve the effect of anti-cancer drugs, meaning that men will live for longer. This project will use samples taken from two groups of patients with aggressive prostate cancer. One group of patients will have continued with their normal daily activities, while the other group will have participated in an exercise program. By examining blood samples from the two groups, we will determine if exercise was able to change protein levels in the blood. We will also be able to identify the most important proteins in the samples, and check if these proteins affect how prostate cancer cells grown in the lab respond to anti-cancer drugs.
