Research hope for prostate cancer

Pouring petrol on the fire can potentially reverse resistance to hormone treatments for prostate cancer, new research suggests.

The counter-intuitive strategy called bipolar androgen therapy (BAT) involves boosting levels of the male hormone testosterone, which normally stimulates prostate cancer growth.

In a small pilot study, scientists found that alternating high and low testosterone levels caused seven of 16 patients with resistant prostate cancer to go into remission.