James P. Karr – författare

The biology of solid tumor metastasis has been the subject of significant scientific and clinical interest for years and while experimental evidence reveals that metastasis is not solely a random event, very little is known about the biology of metastasis originating from prostate cancer. This is in spite of the fact that the majority of prostate cancer patients die with metastatic lesions to the bone. Progress in understanding this most important aspect of prostate cancer has been hampered by the lack of suitable animal models and an inability to accurately quantify bone metastases and their responses to therapy. Over the past decade, scientists in Japan and the United States have steadily advanced our understanding of the cellular, molecular and immunologic biology of primary and disseminated prostate cancer. It is this body of new information, combined with advances in imaging techniques and prostate cancer tumor markers, that prompted the need for an in-depth assessment of bone metastasis of prostate cancer. Accordingly, on December 12, 1990, a group of basic and clinical investigators from Japan and the United States convened in Gotenba, Japan, to hold the first conference devoted solely to the basic biology and clinical aspects of bone metastases originating from prostate cancer. The cross-fertilization of ideas that was fostered through in-depth discussion of technological advances among various basic and clinical disciplines not only further advanced our understanding of prostate metastases to the bone, but suggested approaches for precise quantitative assessment of these lesions and their treatment.

These proceedings of the 5th Prouts Neck Meeting on Prostate Cancer, held in October, 1989, highlight the many advances in the understanding of prostatic growth and function at the cellular and molecular levels which have been registered since the first Prouts Neck Meeting in 1985, a meeting which also focused on the then current concepts and basic approaches to understanding prostate cancer. Inter­ vening Prouts Neck Meetings in 1986, 1987 and 1988 were devoted to treatment, image cytometry and clinical markers. As before, the Prouts Neck tradition of bringing together an international, multidiscipli­ nary group of experts for 3 days to exchange ideas and new data, in the relaxed atmosphere of an old iun on the scenic Maine coast, proved to be an ideal combination for a highly successful conference. Accordingly, the Organ System Program of the National Cancer Institute plans to use the Prouts Neck model for future conferences on other solid tumors (bladder in 1990 and kidney in 1991) and will return to the prostate in 1992. A new dimension was added to the current program through the inclusion of a poster session to recognize the research of pre-and postdoctoral investigators. The posters were judged by Drs. Collette Freeman, Frank French, Shutsung Liao, Robert Matusik and Henry Sun. The three winners, in alphabeti­ cal order, were John Fabian, Robert Getzenberg and Ming Fong-Lin.

The biology of solid tumor metastasis has been the subject of significant scientific and clinical interest for years and while experimental evidence reveals that metastasis is not solely a random event, very little is known about the biology of metastasis originating from prostate cancer. This is in spite of the fact that the majority of prostate cancer patients die with metastatic lesions to the bone. Progress in understanding this most important aspect of prostate cancer has been hampered by the lack of suitable animal models and an inability to accurately quantify bone metastases and their responses to therapy. Over the past decade, scientists in Japan and the United States have steadily advanced our understanding of the cellular, molecular and immunologic biology of primary and disseminated prostate cancer. It is this body of new information, combined with advances in imaging techniques and prostate cancer tumor markers, that prompted the need for an in-depth assessment of bone metastasis of prostate cancer. Accordingly, on December 12, 1990, a group of basic and clinical investigators from Japan and the United States convened in Gotenba, Japan, to hold the first conference devoted solely to the basic biology and clinical aspects of bone metastases originating from prostate cancer. The cross-fertilization of ideas that was fostered through in-depth discussion of technological advances among various basic and clinical disciplines not only further advanced our understanding of prostate metastases to the bone, but suggested approaches for precise quantitative assessment of these lesions and their treatment.