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Inside records from 924 men whose cancer had not spread, one low hormone reading kept matching the most severe progression.<\/p>\n
At the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center<\/a>, researchers tied readings below 300 ng\/dL to riskier outcomes.<\/p>\n From that MD Anderson group, the signal did not flag milder worsening, which suggests it may matter most in the riskiest cases.<\/p>\n Because the work found an association rather than proof of cause, the result points toward closer tracking, not a new reason for panic.<\/p>\n Decision to delay <\/p>\n Many men choose active surveillance<\/a>, close monitoring with delayed treatment unless cancer worsens, because early prostate tumors often pose low immediate danger.<\/p>\n That choice can spare surgery or radiation and their lasting side effects, a point echoed in Gregg\u2019s public comments.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, identifying patients at increased risk of disease progression remains a key challenge,\u201d said Justin R. Gregg, M.D., associate professor at MD Anderson.<\/p>\n Trouble starts with the minority of cases that stop behaving quietly, which is why better early warning signs matter.<\/p>\n The cutoff clue<\/p>\n Urology guidelines<\/a> already treat 300 ng\/dL as a practical cutoff for low testosterone in clinical care.<\/p>\n Using that same threshold, the researchers found that about 29% of the men in their program started low.<\/p>\n Those patients were 60% more likely to reach Grade Group 3 \u2013 a biopsy category showing more aggressive cells \u2013 than men above it.<\/p>\n By contrast, the same cutoff did not clearly predict the smaller step into Grade Group 2, which narrows what the signal may mean.<\/p>\n Hormones and tumors<\/p>\n Prostate tumors often respond to androgens, male hormones that switch on growth signals in prostate cells, which is why hormone-blocking treatment can work.<\/p>\n That basic biology, outlined in the National Cancer Institute\u2019s hormone therapy fact sheet<\/a>, made the new result harder to ignore.<\/p>\n Instead, the study suggests that low circulating hormones may mark a cancer environment already acting more aggressively before major change becomes obvious.<\/p>\n Such a marker would not mean the hormone itself caused the danger, but it could reveal which cancers deserve closer watch.<\/p>\n What the numbers showed<\/p>\n Across the full group, 272 men started below the cutoff, giving the signal enough weight to stand apart from age alone.<\/p>\n Follow-up lasted a median of 46 months for men whose cancer<\/a> did not worsen, which gave later trouble time to appear.<\/p>\n Even after accounting for body size, common blood-test results, and how much cancer the biopsy showed, the link still held.<\/p>\n Still, only 34 men in the low group reached that severe category, which keeps the finding important but not absolute.<\/p>\n How care could change<\/p>\n For doctors, the value of the result<\/a> lies less in prediction alone than in how it could refine follow-up.<\/p>\n Men who start low might get biopsies, scans, or blood checks on a tighter schedule if future studies confirm the signal.<\/p>\n \u201cUnderstanding the influence of hormonal factors on the biology of prostate cancer can help us optimize surveillance strategies,\u201d Gregg said.<\/p>\n That practical use fits the study\u2019s message: hormone<\/a> status may help sort monitoring intensity without making surveillance itself look unsafe.<\/p>\n What remains uncertain<\/p>\n One caution is immediate: the study did not show that low testosterone causes aggressive cancer.<\/p>\n Because the researchers looked back at one group of men on surveillance, hidden differences between patients could still shape the pattern.<\/p>\n Earlier cases also came from years before modern imaging routinely sorted prostate cancers more precisely at the start.<\/p>\n Those limits mean the result is strong enough to guide questions now, but not strong enough to rewrite care by itself.<\/p>\n Why context counts<\/p>\n A low testosterone result will not tell any individual man<\/a> exactly what his cancer will do next.<\/p>\n Doctors still weigh biopsy details, age, overall health, symptoms, and personal priorities before changing a plan.<\/p>\n For some patients, more testing may bring reassurance, while earlier treatment may feel like the safer choice.<\/p>\n That balance explains why the new marker works best as one piece of a conversation rather than a stand-alone verdict.<\/p>\n What comes next<\/p>\n Researchers now need studies that follow men forward and measure hormones on a set schedule before any cancer changes are confirmed.<\/p>\n Repeated morning tests would be needed because testosterone rises and falls through the day, and single readings can mislead.<\/p>\n Newer surveillance programs also rely more on targeted imaging and biopsies, which could reveal whether the same signal survives current practice.<\/p>\n If it does, one simple blood result may help separate the men who can safely wait from those who should not.<\/p>\n What stays clear<\/p>\n Low testosterone did not predict every setback, but it consistently tracked the cancers that became truly dangerous.<\/p>\n That makes the finding useful not as a new fear trigger, but as a clearer way to match surveillance intensity to real risk.<\/p>\n The study is published in The Journal of Urology<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read?\u00a0Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a>\u00a0for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.<\/p>\n Check us out on\u00a0EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by\u00a0Eric Ralls<\/a>\u00a0and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have found that men with prostate cancer and low testosterone are more likely to see tumors under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":352828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[163,85,46],"class_list":{"0":"post-352827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=352827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/352828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=352827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=352827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=352827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}