Editor's note: Prostate cancer is a malignant tumor that occurs in the male prostate gland, and is one of the most common malignant tumors of the male genitourinary system. On the occasion of the launch of the National Cancer Prevention and Treatment Awareness Week, Professor Zhao Jianfu from the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University was invited to share the latest clinical treatment progress in the field of prostate cancer treatment, as well as the achievements and challenges in the fight against prostate cancer.
Interviewees
Prof. Jianfu Zhao
Chief physician, doctoral supervisor, associate professor, postdoctoral cooperative supervisor
Vice President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University
Director of the Department of Radiotherapy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University
Director of Guangdong Provincial Association of Research Hospitals
Leader of oncology in Guangdong Province
Director of the Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment Research Center of Jinan University
Secretary of the Party Branch of the "Double Leader" Teacher of Jinan University
Vice Chairman of the Oncology Intensive Care Professional Committee of Guangdong Medical Doctor Association
Vice Chairman of the Management Committee of the Department of Radiotherapy of Guangdong Provincial Hospital Association
Vice Chairman of the Medical Science Popularization and Health Communication Branch of Guangdong Medical Association
Chairman of the Tumor Diagnosis and Treatment Technology Transformation Committee of Guangdong Medical Education Association
Vice Chairman of the Liver Tumor Integrated Rehabilitation Professional Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association
Vice Chairman of the Esophageal Tumor Integrated Rehabilitation Professional Committee of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association
Vice Chairman of the Health Promotion Expert Committee of the Chinese National Health Association
Yiyuehui: There is a view that cancer is becoming more and more younger, could you please interpret this view from your professional perspective?
Prof. Jianfu Zhao: The occurrence and development of cancer is a complex process that may be affected by a variety of factors. We can't simply blame a particular lifestyle or food for the occurrence of cancer. In the case of prostate cancer, its occurrence is actually age-related.
My main research direction is advanced prostate cancer, and I have been conducting research in this field for more than 8 years. The youngest person I've ever met with advanced prostate cancer in my career was only 38 years old, which is unimaginable to know that prostate cancer is often considered a disease in older men.
This young patient came to the clinic at a time when we were facing a big problem in conducting a basic research experiment for advanced prostate cancer. In our clinical protocols, we found that a combination of treatment and a combination of therapies worked very well, but it was never possible to replicate this effect in the laboratory. We even considered abandoning the subject, but in the last discussion, this patient reminded us of the importance of age. We decided to use older rats for our experiments, rather than young mice, because it was only in older rats that we could observe the development of the disease and the real-world consistency of the efficacy of the integrated treatment regimen and the combination. This discovery has also made our laboratory research work smooth. Later, we published an article based on clinical cases and data from the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University (Guangzhou Huaqiao Hospital) in JITC, a sub-journal of BMJ. This article shows that the onset of prostate cancer is age-related and related to the mechanism of body aging, and the proposed protocol and combination of drugs can solve the real-world problems of advanced prostate cancer.
For the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, our concept is fortunate to be very consistent with the concept of integrative medicine proposed by Academician Fan Daiming, and try to understand and treat prostate cancer from a new perspective, especially advanced prostate cancer. Now, our treatment can reverse bone metastases, lung metastases, and liver metastases. Complete regression of the tumor can be seen on the PET-CT results after six months or one year of post-treatment evaluation. This integrative treatment concept has achieved very good results in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, and has also given us the confidence to continue to move forward in clinical and scientific research.
In addition, we have conducted a series of studies in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, including in vivo T cell expansion, immune modulation, and rehabilitation exercises. Now, we are promoting the popularization and application of these research results. At present, our rehabilitation and exercise therapy for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Guangdong Province. The achievements have won many awards such as the second prize of the Science and Technology Award of the China Anti-Cancer Association, the second prize of the Invention Award of the Ministry of Education, the individual innovation award of China's industry-university-research, and the first prize of the Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Innovation Award of the Guangdong Association for the Promotion of Scientific and Technological Achievements.
Yiyuehui: At present, what are the attempts of biological therapy in the treatment of prostate cancer, and how do you feel about this?
Prof. Jianfu Zhao: At present, biological therapy has not been widely recognized in clinical practice. However, I would like to share a biotherapeutic approach that can be used clinically. During my Ph.D., I was mainly engaged in cell culture and cell biotherapy such as NK AND DC-CIK. In clinical work, drug combinations have been explored for use in patients, which we summarize as in vivo T cell expansion therapy. This therapy is indeed able to increase the number of T cells in the patient's peripheral blood and produce synergistic effects with other treatments. Especially when T cell expansion therapy is used in combination with other drug treatments, it can completely reverse the condition in the real world.
After being confirmed in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer, we went back to do a mechanistic study, which was well validated. We have now treated more than 60 patients with advanced prostate cancer, about half of whom were bedridden and are now able to walk and socially move normally, giving them the confidence to recover.
Yiyue Hui: What are your thoughts and plans to improve and promote the overall treatment of prostate cancer?
Professor Zhao Jianfu: In the process of treating prostate cancer, we pay special attention to experience summary and technology promotion. Once we have a good clinical effect in the clinic, we will summarize it and study the mechanism behind it. At present, we have obtained 4 patents in the field of combination therapy for advanced prostate cancer, and have replicated the successful experience in the treatment of massive liver cancer, and have been granted a patent for the combination drug with the same name of the disease. In addition, in the process of treating prostate cancer, we take into account the special location of the prostate, the age of onset and the occupational situation, therefore, we have also conducted studies on rehabilitation exercises, which have been shown to be beneficial for the rehabilitation of the disease.
In terms of technical experience promotion, we are using platforms such as the Chinese Medical Association and the Guangdong Provincial Continuing Medical Education Committee to hold a national and provincial continuing medical education project - "Training Course on the Diagnosis and Treatment of Advanced Metastatic Prostate Cancer", so as to promote prostate cancer rehabilitation exercise therapy to middle-aged and elderly men who have not yet been diagnosed with prostatic hyperplasia or prostate cancer, so that they can benefit from it. In addition, we participated in the selection and approval of the National Health Technology Promotion Project and was promoted by the organization. In addition, we also plan to set up a special committee for integrated rehabilitation of advanced prostate cancer under the guidance of the Chinese Anti-Cancer Association. In this way, we can do more work in the treatment, rehabilitation, prevention, and early screening of prostate cancer, so that more patients can benefit.
In conclusion, the complexity of advanced tumors cannot be solved by monotherapy. Taking radiotherapy as an example, in recent years, radiotherapy technology has been continuously improved, and at present, about 40% of tumors, especially local tumors, can be cured by radiotherapy. In fact, radiotherapy is a very good treatment for many local tumors, which has good efficacy and few side effects, but radiotherapy cannot solve all the treatment problems of cancer patients. Therefore, clinicians should learn to intelligently integrate existing treatment methods and carry out effective and safe integrated treatment for patients.
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