Advances in therapeutics have led to improvements in both survival and quality of life for patients with cancer, including men with advanced prostate cancer. Simultaneously, a number of cutting-edge scientific advances have been made in the underlying biology of advanced prostate cancer. There is great potential and power in integrating these new therapeutics and biomarkers, which is often referred to precision medicine. While great advances have already been made in this area, many remain highly sophisticated and restricted to selected centers, such as Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, while others still need validation in a larger number of patients. Ultimately, the goal is to be able to bring these technologies and treatments to cancer patients all around the country and the world.
At the 2016 ASCO meeting, Dr. Himisha Beltran was the chair of a session entitled “Precision Medicine in Advanced Prostate Cancer: Understanding Genomics, Androgen Receptor Splice Variants, and Imaging Biomarkers.” This session intended to demystify some of the language and updates surrounding precision medicine.
Dr. Beltran spoke about important recent advances in tumor and patient genomics, such as the specific genetic alterations that we now know drive different types of tumors and play a role in the development of aggressive forms of the disease. The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a government-led initiative through the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has generated multi-dimensional maps for key genomic changes in 33 different types of cancer. It also provides a collaborative platform for physicians and researchers to search, download, and analyze data. Through the TCGA there have been critical discoveries regarding untreated primary prostate tumors with molecular classification of different subtypes that go beyond Gleason scores (the common way pathologists “grade” the aggressiveness of tumors).
Additionally, the first publication of the Stand Up to Cancer Prostate Cancer Dream Team demonstrated the genomic landscape of metastatic biopsies in the castration-resistant setting, which have differences compared to primary prostate tumors and fall into groups which may be targetable by certain therapies. Dr. Mark Rubin is the Weill Cornell Primary Investigator for the Stand Up to Cancer Dream Team. In addition, as follow up to Dr. Beltran’s initial 2011 publication, she detailed the results of Weill Cornell’s collaborative efforts leading to key discoveries in neuroendocrine and castration-resistant prostate cancer using tumor tissue as well as circulating tumor cell analysis.
Collaborator Dr. Gerhardt Attard presented data on utilizing DNA obtained from blood only, an emerging method of accessing the tumor’s genomic information in a non-invasive manner, which may decrease the need for a biopsy and allow for multiple samples to be assessed over time. One clinically relevant portion of his work, being done in collaboration with Drs. Beltran and Francesca DeMichelis, is ongoing through a Prostate Cancer Foundation – Movember Challenge Award grant. Together, we are leveraging our published genomic data on neuroendocrine and treatment-resistant prostate cancer with the circulating tumor DNA from blood technology to assess patients’ cancer status before, during, and after treatment.
In addition to improvements in tumor and blood-based biomarkers, imaging biomarkers are also being investigated. Dr. Michael Morris described standardizing the use of traditional scans to assess prostate cancer progression. In addition, there are a number of molecular imaging modalities that may demonstrate increased sensitivity in the detection of tumors as well as give insight into the biology of individual tumors, highlighted by prostate specific membrane imaging including the New York-based collaboration between Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medicine investigators.
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