Good News Colon cancer recurrence and deaths cut 28% by simple exercise, trial finds Any type of aerobic exercise works for the improvements, study finds. Beth Mole – Jun 2, 2025 6:05 pm | 42 Credit: Getty | Oli Kellett Credit: Getty | Oli Kellett Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Exercise is generally good for you, but a new high-quality clinical trial finds that it's so good, it can even knock back colon cancer—and, in fact, rival some chemotherapy treatments. The finding comes from a phase 3, randomized clinical trial led by researchers in Canada, who studied nearly 900 people who had undergone surgery and chemotherapy for colon cancer. After those treatments, patients were evenly split into groups that either bulked up their regular exercise routines in a three-year program that included coaching and supervision or were simply given health education. The researchers found that the exercise group had a 28 percent lower risk of their colon cancer recurring, new cancers developing, or dying over eight years compared with the health education group. The benefits of exercise, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, became visible after just one year and increased over time, the researchers found. The rate of people who survived for five years and remained cancer-free was 80.3 percent among the exercise group. That's a 6.4 percentage-point survival boost over the education group, which had a 73.9 percent cancer-free survival rate. The overall survival rateduring the study's eight-year follow-up was 90.3 percent in the exercise group compared with 83.2 percent in the education group—a 7.1 percentage point difference. Exercise reduced the relative risk of death by 37 percent. "The magnitude of benefit from exercise ... was similar to that of many currently approved standard drug treatments," the researchers noted. However, the exercise routines that achieved those substantial benefits weren't heavy-duty. Participants were coached to perform any recreational aerobic exercise they enjoyed, including brisk walking. Adding 45- to 60-minute brisk walks three or four times a week, or three or four jogs lasting 25 to 30 minutes, was enough for many of the participants to improve their odds. Overall, the goal was to get the exercise group over 20 MET hours per week. METs are Metabolic Equivalents of Task, which represent the amount of energy your body is burning up compared to when you're at rest, sitting quietly. Brisk walking is about four METs, the researchers estimated, and jogging is around 10 METs. To get to 20 MET hours a week, a participant would have to do five hours of brisk walking a weekor jog for two hours a week. “Quite impressive” The exercise group, which had supervised exercise for the first six months of the three-year intervention, reported more exercise over the study. At the end, the exercise group was averaging over 20 MET hours per week, while the education group's average was around 15 MET hours per week. The exercise group also scored better at cardiorespiratory fitness and physical functioning. Still, with the health education, the control group also saw a boost to their exercise during the trial, with their average starting around 10 MET hours per week. These findings "raise the possibility of an even more powerful effect of exercise on cancer outcomes as compared with a completely sedentary control group," the researchers note. For now, it's not entirely clear how exercise keeps cancers at bay, but it squares with numerous other observational studies that have linked exercise to better outcomes in cancer patients. Researchers have several hypotheses, including that exercise might cause "increased fluid shear stress, enhanced immune surveillance, reduced inflammation, improved insulin sensitivity, and altered microenvironment of major sites of metastases," the authors note. In the study, exercise seemed to keep local and distant colon cancer from recurring, as well as prevent new cancers, including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Outside experts hailed the study's findings. "This indicates that exercise has a similarly strong effect as previously shown for chemotherapy, which is really quite impressive," Marco Gerlinger, a gastrointestinal cancer expert at Queen Mary University of London, said in a statement. "One of the commonest questions from patients is what they can do to reduce the risk that their cancer comes back. Oncologists can now make a very clear evidence-based recommendation." "Having worked in bowel cancer research for 30 years, this is an exciting breakthrough in the step-wise improvement in cure rates," David Sebag-Montefiore, a clinical oncologist at the University of Leeds, said. "The great appeal of a structured moderate intensity exercise is that it offers the benefits without the downside of the well-known side effects of our other treatments." Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth Mole Senior Health Reporter Beth is Ars Technica’s Senior Health Reporter. Beth has a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended the Science Communication program at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She specializes in covering infectious diseases, public health, and microbes. 42 Comments #colon #cancer #recurrence #deaths #cut

Male fertility rates have been plummeting over the past half-century. An analysis from 1992 noted a steady decrease in sperm counts and quality since the 1940s. A more recent study found that male infertility rates increased nearly 80% from 1990 to 2019. The reasons driving this trend remain a mystery, but frequently cited culprits include obesity, poor diet, and environmental toxins. Infectious diseases such as gonorrhea or chlamydia are often overlooked factors that affect fertility in men. Accumulating evidence suggests that a common single-celled parasite called Toxoplasma gondii may also be a contributor: An April 2025 study showed for the first time that “human sperm lose their heads upon direct contact” with the parasite. I am a microbiologist, and my lab studies Toxoplasma. This new study bolsters emerging findings that underscore the importance of preventing this parasitic infection. The many ways you can get toxoplasmosis Infected cats defecate Toxoplasma eggs into the litter box, garden or other places in the environment where they can be picked up by humans or other animals. Water, shellfish and unwashed fruits and vegetables can also harbor infectious parasite eggs. In addition to eggs, tissue cysts present in the meat of warm-blooded animals can spread toxoplasmosis as well if they are not destroyed by cooking to proper temperature. While most hosts of the parasite can control the initial infection with few if any symptoms, Toxoplasma remains in the body for life as dormant cysts in brain, heart and muscle tissue. These cysts can reactivate and cause additional episodes of severe illness that damage critical organ systems. Between 30% and 50% of the world’s population is permanently infected with Toxoplasma due to the many ways the parasite can spread. Toxoplasma can target male reproductive organs Upon infection, Toxoplasma spreads to virtually every organ and skeletal muscle. Evidence that Toxoplasma can also target human male reproductive organs first surfaced during the height of the AIDS pandemic in the 1980s, when some patients presented with the parasitic infection in their testes. While immunocompromised patients are most at risk for testicular toxoplasmosis, it can also occur in otherwise healthy individuals. Imaging studies of infected mice confirm that Toxoplasma parasites quickly travel to the testes in addition to the brain and eyes within days of infection. Toxoplasma cysts floating in cat feces. DPDx Image Library/CDC In 2017, my colleagues and I found that Toxoplasma can also form cysts in mouse prostates. Researchers have also observed these parasites in the ejaculate of many animals, including human semen, raising the possibility of sexual transmission. Knowing that Toxoplasma can reside in male reproductive organs has prompted analyses of fertility in infected men. A small 2021 study in Prague of 163 men infected with Toxoplasma found that over 86% had semen anomalies. A 2002 study in China found that infertile couples are more likely to have a Toxoplasma infection than fertile couples, 34.83% versus 12.11%. A 2005 study in China also found that sterile men are more likely to test positive for Toxoplasma than fertile men. Not all studies, however, produce a link between toxoplasmosis and sperm quality. Toxoplasma can directly damage human sperm Toxoplasmosis in animals mirrors infection in humans, which allows researchers to address questions that are not easy to examine in people. Testicular function and sperm production are sharply diminished in Toxoplasma-infected mice, rats and rams. Infected mice have significantly lower sperm counts and a higher proportion of abnormally shaped sperm. In that April 2025 study, researchers from Germany, Uruguay, and Chile observed that Toxoplasma can reach the testes and epididymis, the tube where sperm mature and are stored, two days after infection in mice. This finding prompted the team to test what happens when the parasite comes into direct contact with human sperm in a test tube. After only five minutes of exposure to the parasite, 22.4% of sperm cells were beheaded. The number of decapitated sperm increased the longer they interacted with the parasites. Sperm cells that maintained their head were often twisted and misshapen. Some sperm cells had holes in their head, suggesting the parasites were trying to invade them as it would any other type of cell in the organs it infiltrates. In addition to direct contact, Toxoplasma may also damage sperm because the infection promotes chronic inflammation. Inflammatory conditions in the male reproductive tract are harmful to sperm production and function. The researchers speculate that the harmful effects Toxoplasma may have on sperm could be contributing to large global declines in male fertility over the past decades. Sperm exposed to Toxoplasma. Arrows point to holes and other damage to the sperm; asterisks indicate where the parasite has burrowed. The two nonconfronted controls at the bottom show normal sperm. Rojas-Barón et al/The FEBS Journal, CC BY-SA Preventing toxoplasmosis The evidence that Toxoplasma can infiltrate male reproductive organs in animals is compelling, but whether this produces health issues in people remains unclear. Testicular toxoplasmosis shows that parasites can invade human testes, but symptomatic disease is very rare. Studies to date that show defects in the sperm of infected men are too small to draw firm conclusions at this time. Additionally, some reports suggest that rates of toxoplasmosis in high-income countries have not been increasing over the past few decades while male infertility was rising, so it’s likely to only be one part of the puzzle. Regardless of this parasite’s potential effect on fertility, it is wise to avoid Toxoplasma. An infection can cause miscarriage or birth defects if someone acquires it for the first time during pregnancy, and it can be life-threatening for immunocompromised people. Toxoplasma is also the leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the United States. Taking proper care of your cat, promptly cleaning the litter box and thoroughly washing your hands after can help reduce your exposure to Toxoplasma. You can also protect yourself from this parasite by washing fruits and vegetables, cooking meat to proper temperatures before consuming and avoiding raw shellfish, raw water and raw milk. Bill Sullivan, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Indiana University. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. #this #cat #poop #parasite #can

The answer is less obvious than you might think #should #men #screened #prostate #cancer

Targeting the immune system to fight cancer has been in the works for over a decade, and thanks to its precise, personalized approach, it's poised to shape the future of oncology. As our understanding of how immunotherapy can be used against cancer grows, scientists are now reconsidering existing drugs, particularly those that affect the immune system, for their potential role in cancer treatment.Alongside well-established medications like aspirin, showing potential to help the immune system combat cancer, researchers are now turning their attention to antidepressants — and the results are looking promising.A team from UCLA recently published a study in Cell showing how SSRIs, a widely prescribed class of antidepressants, can help the immune system suppress tumor growth across various cancer types. So instead of developing entirely new drugs, could the key lie in repurposing ones we already have?“These drugs have been widely and safely used to treat depression for decades, so repurposing them for cancer would be a lot easier than developing an entirely new therapy,” said senior study author Lili Yang, a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA, in a press statement.The Role of AntidepressantsSSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, work by increasing levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with mood and focus, and by blocking the serotonin transporter, which typically regulates how much serotonin is available outside our cells. In people with depression, serotonin levels in the brain drop significantly — a problem that SSRIs like fluoxetine, citalopram, and sertralinehelp to address.But serotonin isn’t just about mood. Only about 5 percent of the body’s serotonin is made in the brain. The rest acts as a signaling molecule in many essential bodily functions, including digestion — and, as recent research suggests, immune system regulation.While earlier lab studies hinted that serotonin might help stimulate T-cells, the immune system’s front-line soldiers, its precise role and potential in immunoregulation remained unclear. That is, until now.Antidepressants and Anti-Tumor PotentialBefore studying SSRIs, the UCLA team had explored another class of antidepressants called MAO inhibitors, which also increased serotonin levels by blocking an enzyme known as MAO-A. These drugs showed anti-tumor potential, but due to their higher risk of side effects, researchers shifted their focus to SSRIs.“SERT made for an especially attractive target because the drugs that act on it — SSRIs — are widely used with minimal side effects,” said Bo Li, the study’s first author, in the news release. By using SSRIs to boost serotonin availability, researchers aimed to outmaneuver one of cancer’s suggested strategies: depriving immune cells of the serotonin they need to function effectively.The results were encouraging. In both mouse and human tumor models of melanoma, breast, prostate, colon, and bladder cancers, SSRI treatment shrank tumors by over 50 precent. The key, according to Yang, was “increasing their access to serotonin,” which in turn enhanced the T-cells' ability to attack.Combining with Existing Cancer TreatmentsThe team also tested whether combining SSRIs with existing cancer treatments could offer even better results. The answer was yes. In follow-up experiments, all mice with melanoma or colon cancer that received both an SSRI and immune checkpoint blockadetherapy, a treatment designed to overcome the immune-suppressing nature of tumors, experienced significantly reduced tumor sizes.“Immune checkpoint blockades are effective in fewer than 25 percent of patients,” said study co-author James Elsten-Brown in the press release. “If a safe, widely available drug like an SSRI could make these therapies more effective, it would be hugely impactful.”Using therapies already deemed safe means fewer regulatory hurdles and faster clinical use.“Studies estimate the bench-to-bedside pipeline for new cancer therapies costs an average of billion,” Yang said. “When you compare this to the estimated million cost to repurpose FDA-approved drugs, it’s clear why this approach has so much potential.”This article is not offering medical advice and should be used for informational purposes only.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center: Drug commonly used as antidepressant helps fight cancer in miceHaving worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard. #common #group #antidepressants #could #suppress

Image by Getty / FuturismCancerOn Sunday, The New York Times reported that former president Joe Biden, 82, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.What, exactly, does that mean? A bunch of Americans have apparently been trying to figure that out.Google search queries for the phrase "what is a prostate" drastically spiked following news about the former president's cancer diagnosis, as flagged on Bluesky by The Onion writer June Sternbach.The trend suggests that the sad news about America's 46th president didn't just spark inquiry over prostate cancer and what it means, but that a surprising number of US citizens are unclear on what a prostate even is, which may unfortunately be a glaring indictment of American health education.Because many citizens are clearly looking for some answers, we shall provide them. The prostate, according to the National Institutes of Health, is a "gland about the size of a chestnut" that sits below men's bladders and above their pelvic floors. It's a component of the male reproductive system, and a key function includes providing an essential fluid used by the male body to create sperm.Doctors recommend that men, especially as they age, get regular prostate exams. As men get older, most will experience prostate enlargement, which may cause some irritation to the bladder. Prostate cancer, meanwhile, is the leading cancer for men, according to the American Cancer Society, and is most common in patients over the age of 65.As NPR noted this week, prostate cancer can be effectively treated, and has a five-year relative survival rate of about 97 percent. Those odds go down, however, if the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, as Biden's has. His cancer has progressed to Stage 4 and has metastasized to the bone.The former president "has a very bad version" of prostate cancer, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine urologist Ben Davis told NPR, "probably the worst version you can get."Still, Davies added, advancements in treatment mean that "it's not all doom and gloom, to be honest.""He can easily live ten years with this disease," the urologist continued.Biden's team has said that the former president's cancer "appears to be hormone-sensitive," which may make it more manageable, per the NYT.It's an unfortunate situation for Biden — whose son, Beau Biden, died in 2015 of brain cancer at the age of just 46 — and his family.So, maybe, now that we all know what a prostate is, if you have one: please consider getting it regularly checked out, and all of us should tell our loved ones to consider doing the same.More on the male reproductive system: Microplastics Found in Human PenisesShare This Article #far #too #many #americans #googled

Skip to content News Health & Medicine Biden’s prostate cancer is incurable, but it is treatable The former president’s diagnosis raises awareness of the most common cancer among U.S. men "Cancer touches us all,” former U.S. President Joe Biden posted on X. He shared this picture of himself with wife Jill Biden and their cat, Willow, after it was revealed he’s been diagnosed with prostate cancer that has spread to the bone. @JoeBiden By Meghan Rosen 5 hours ago With Joe Biden’s recent diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer, the former U.S. president joins a growing group of people newly coping with the disease. Biden, 82, represents one of more than 300,000 new cases of prostate cancer estimated to occur in the United States in 2025. And the incidence of this disease, the most common cancer in males, is rising. From 2017 to 2021, the incidence of prostate cancer increased about 3 percent per year, researchers reported in the Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer released April 21. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday. #bidens #prostate #cancer #incurable #but

Former U.S. President Joe Biden's office announced that he has been diagnosed with "aggressive" prostate cancer, which has spread to his bones. Here's what to know about the disease. #joe #biden #diagnosed #with #039aggressive039

May 19, 20254 min readHow Do Doctors Treat ‘Aggressive’ Prostate Cancer like Joe Biden’s?What we know about Joe Biden’s cancer, prognosis and treatment optionsBy Clara Moskowitz edited by Dean VisserPresident Joe Biden speaks onstage during the first day of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center on August 19, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois. Brandon Bell/Getty ImagesFormer president Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office announced on Sunday. The 82-year-old has what is described as an “aggressive form” of cancer that has already spread to his bones. Though his disease is serious, there are promising treatment options, and Biden could potentially live for years with the diagnosis.What is a Gleason score, and what does Biden’s mean?Biden has a Gleason score—a benchmark ranking of prostate cancer severity—of 9 out of 10, his office revealed. This puts him in a category called Gleason Grade Group 5. The numbers represent the proportion of prostate cells that look malignant rather than normal under a microscope; a higher number represents a more serious, faster-spreading cancer. Biden’s score suggests that a large portion of his cells look abnormal and that his cancer is relatively high-risk: “He has the most aggressive Gleason pattern,” says oncologist Marc B. Garnick, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.In Biden’s case, the cancer has already become metastatic, meaning it has moved beyond its origin point in the prostate and reached his bones. “Unfortunately, I’d say it is a very serious condition when prostate cancer spreads outside of the prostate and goes to distant places like the bone,” says Peter Nelson, vice president of precision oncology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle and head of the prostate cancer research program at the Fred Hutch/University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Cancer Consortium. “Essentially it’s not a curable cancer.”Just how serious the situation is depends on the details of the cancer’s spread to the bones. “The critical question is: How many bone metastases does he have, and what is the anatomic location of the metastases?” Garnick says. “This is a situation where the devil is in the details.”What are Biden’s treatment options?The treatment for Biden’s form of cancer, called metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer, is likely to be what’s known as doublet therapy—a combination of two drugs that target the production and activity of testosterone. This hormone is key to the situation because it fuels the growth of prostate cancer cells. Its active form, called dihydrotestosterone, interacts with a cell part called the androgen receptor. This receptor then tells the cell to proliferate and grow.David CheneyBiden could possibly be prescribed a drug such as leuprolideor relugolix, both of which shut off the signal in the brain that tells the testicles to make testosterone. In addition, he’ll probably take a second drug, such as apalutamide, enzalutamide, darolutamide or abiraterone. These agents inhibit the cells’ androgen receptors to block the action of testosterone.The drugs, taken as a combination of injections and pills, can work together to shrink the prostate gland and bone lesions. If Biden responds well to the treatment, it’s likely that he won’t need chemotherapy.“I would say he has a more than 90 percent chance of responding to the treatment and likely has at least several years of predicted response to that therapy,” Nelson says. “The problem is: it’s not a cure, and eventually the prostate cancer becomes resistant to that type of therapy.” This treatment can also lead to side effects such as loss of muscle mass and strength, deterioration of bone health and metabolic effects. “Testosterone is a very important hormone for men, so when you suppress it, you can have these side effects,” Nelson adds.Still, Biden’s prospects are much more promising than they would have been even a decade ago, thanks to advances in treatment research. “In the past, the median duration of survival of someone presenting with bone metastasesprostate cancer was two and a half years,” Garnick says. “We now have patients living five, 10 and 15 years because of the new modalities available.”What else can doctors do?In addition to prescribing hormone therapy, Biden’s doctors will likely test the former president’s tumor to see if he has any mutations in certain cancer genes that would suggest specialized treatments were called for.For instance, some prostate cancers end up being genetically linked to other cancers such as breast and ovarian cancer, through the presence of the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2. “Those are genomic abnormalities that can exist that can increase the likelihood of prostate cancer,” Garnick says. If that’s the case for Biden, he could receive specific drugs, such as polypolymerase, or PARP, inhibitors, that target the type of prostate cancer he has.How bad is prostate cancer in general?Prostate cancer is among the most common forms of cancer in older men. The American Cancer Society estimates there will be about 313,780 new diagnoses of the condition and 35,770 deaths attributed to it in the U.S. in 2025.“It’s not surprising that a man in his 60s to 80s would have a diagnosis like this—affects one in eight men in the U.S.,” Nelson says. “The ironic part is: Biden did so much to emphasize the importance of biomedical research in addressing our cancer burden. But he should benefit from that investment in making improvements in understanding cancer and how we can better develop therapies for it.”Biden’s successor, President Donald Trump, has shifted course since beginning his second term. His administration has made significant cuts to funding for cancer research and has eliminated thousands of jobs in the Department of Health and Human Services, including hundreds of employees at the National Institutes of Health, the world’s largest funder of cancer research. “My plea is not to turn our back on the tremendous progress that’s being made,” Nelson says. “We still have a long way to go because we’re not curing advanced prostate cancer, even though we’re extending men’s lives. We still need major investments in biomedical research to develop true cures.” #how #doctors #treat #aggressive #prostate

Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office said Sunday. Biden was seen by doctors last week after urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule were found. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells having spread to the bone. “While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” his office said. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.” Prostate cancers are given a score called a Gleason score that measures, on a scale of 1 to 10, how the cancerous cells look compared with normal cells. Biden’s office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive. When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often spreads to the bones. Metastasized cancer is much harder to treat than localized cancer because it can be hard for drugs to reach all the tumors and completely root out the disease. However, when prostate cancers need hormones to grow, as in Biden’s case, they can be susceptible to treatment that deprives the tumors of hormones. Many political leaders sent Biden their wishes for his recovery. President Donald Trump, a longtime political opponent, posted on social media that he was saddened by the news and “we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.” Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, said on social media that she was keeping him in her family’s “hearts and prayers during this time.” “Joe is a fighter — and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength, resilience, and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership,” Harris wrote. The health of Biden, 82, was a dominant concern among voters during his time as president. After a calamitous debate performance in June while seeking reelection, Biden abandoned his bid for a second term. Harris became the nominee and lost to Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House after a four-year hiatus. But in recent days, Biden rejected concerns about his age despite reporting in the new book “Original Sin” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson that aides had shielded the public from the extent of his decline while serving as president. In February 2023, Biden had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer. And in November 2021, he had a polyp removed from his colon that was a benign, but potentially pre-cancerous lesion. In 2022, Biden made a “cancer moonshot” one of his administration’s priorities with the goal of halving the cancer death rate over the next 25 years. The initiative was a continuation of his work as vice president to address a disease that had killed his older son, Beau, who died from brain cancer in 2015. His father, when announcing the goal to halve the cancer death rate, said this could be an “American moment to prove to ourselves and, quite frankly, the world that we can do really big things.” ___ By JOSH BOAK, Associated Press Associated Press writer Jon Fahey in New York contributed to this report. #joe #biden #has #been #diagnosed