Charlie Schmidt

Sep 16, 2024 | health.harvard.edu | Charlie Schmidt |Marc B. Garnick

By fighting off pathogens, the specialized cells of our immune systems help to keep us healthy and free of infectious diseases. Immunotherapies teach those same cells to recognize and destroy cancer. The drugs have been remarkably successful in treating melanoma — a type of skin cancer — as well as cancers of the lung, bladder, kidneys, and blood. Just one form of immunotherapy, a type of cancer vaccine, is currently approved for prostate cancer.

Sep 16, 2024 | msn.com | Charlie Schmidt

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Jan 10, 2024 | chicagotribune.com | Charlie Schmidt

When we think about radiation therapy, we typically picture treatments directed at tumors by a machine located outside the body. Now imagine a different scenario -- one in which radioactive particles injected into the bloodstream find and destroy individual cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells unscathed. The drugOne such “radioligand” is already available for certain patients with prostate cancer. Called Lu-PSMA-617 (trade name Pluvicto), it carries a lethal payload of radioactive atoms.

Jun 21, 2023 | chicagotribune.com | Charlie Schmidt

Prostate cancer is generally viewed as a disease of older men. Yet about 10% of new diagnoses occur in men age 55 or younger, and these early-onset cancers often have a worse prognosis. Biological differences partially explain the discrepancy. For instance, early-onset prostate cancers contain certain genetic abnormalities that don’t appear as often in older men with the disease.