Patches typically used to alleviate symptoms of menopause in women could offer a new treatment pathway for a specific type of prostate cancer, according to a new study.
Researchers at University College London (UCL) investigated whether these patches could rival the effectiveness of current injection-based hormone therapies.
These injections are routinely administered to men with locally advanced prostate cancer, where the disease has spread just beyond the gland.
The primary goal of this hormone therapy is to suppress testosterone levels, a hormone crucial for the cancer’s growth.
The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involved 1,360 men with an average age of 72, recruited from cancer centres across the UK.
Participants were either given the patches to wear or received injections designed to block testosterone production, allowing researchers to compare the efficacy of the two delivery methods.
Researchers found that patches that lower testosterone by delivering oestradiol, a form of oestrogen, through the skin were just as effective as injections at preventing the cancer from spreading.
These patches also led to fewer side effects compared to the injection, which can include hot flushes, bone density problems and risk factors for heart disease such as higher cholesterol, higher blood sugar and higher blood pressure.
But the patches were linked to more breast tissue swelling.
Experts said patients who are given injections of LHRH agonists (luteinising hormone-releasing hormone agonists) need multiple hospital or GP visits while oestradiol patches can be put on by patients at home.
The patches used in the trial are the same as those used in hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to treat symptoms of the menopause in women, UCL said.
Lead author Professor Ruth Langley, from the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at UCL, said: “We believe our findings should lead to men with locally advanced prostate cancer being able to choose which hormone therapy suits them best.
“For some men, for instance, hot flushes can be very debilitating, and so the patches could greatly increase their quality of life.”
Commenting on the study, Caroline Geraghty, senior specialist nurse manager at Cancer Research UK, said: “Thanks to research, over eight in 10 men diagnosed with prostate cancer will now survive for 10 years or more, as well as finding more effective treatments, we need to find ways to make them kinder too.
“This trial has done exactly that – it shows that hormone patches are just as effective as traditional injections at controlling locally advanced prostate cancer, while being much easier and gentler to administer.
“This should give men greater choice over their treatment in the future, allowing them to live not just longer lives, but better lives.”
Simon Grieveson, assistant director of research at Prostate Cancer UK, added: “Hormone therapy is an extremely common and effective treatment for prostate cancer, currently given through regular injections.
“But for many men it can cause quite significant side effects.
“Results from trials have shown that hormone patches like these, delivered through the skin, are just as effective at delaying cancer progression.
“The skin patches also resulted in fewer men experiencing hot flushes, however breast tissue swelling was more common.
“These skin patches are more convenient and less invasive and could give men greater choice in their treatment based on what’s important to them and how they live their lives.”
The results were published comes as the UK national screening committee (UKNSC), which advises the Government, is set to meet to decide on the future of screening men for prostate cancer.
In a draft recommendation last year, it said no to population-wide screening using the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, saying it “is likely to cause more harm than good”.
The committee put forward only a recommendation to screen men with BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations, which puts them at far higher risk of prostate cancer, every two years, between the ages of 45 and 61.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he was surprised by the move but any final decision needs to be “based on science and evidence, not on politics”.
Many experts argue the PSA test is not very reliable because men with a high PSA level may not have cancer and some men with cancer have a normal PSA result.
A positive test result may lead to unnecessary treatment for slow-growing or harmless tumours, leaving men at risk of side-effects such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
However, others argue current evidence supports wider testing and urged experts to reconsider.
The UKNSC’s final decision will be published a few weeks after its meeting on Thursday.
