STRONGER TOGETHER: A SUCCESSFUL COMBINATION TO TREAT ADVANCED PROSTATE CANCER BY JANE KOLLMER
A drug that held great promise in advanced prostate cancer failed in clinical trials. Several years later, a discovery made in a University of Chicago research laboratory renewed hope in its potential. Prostate cancer is the second most frequent cancer diagnosis made in men and the fifth leading cause of mortality, accounting for approximately 360,000 deaths worldwide in 2018. Men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), or cancer that has spread and is not responding to standard hormonal treatments, face a poor prognosis. Currently, researchers are looking for new ways to address this longstanding treatment challenge by testing novel therapeutic options, including cancer
MOST FREQUENT CANCER DIAGNOSIS MADE IN MEN.
therapies that identify and attack specific types of cancer cells. One such drug is cabozantinib, a type of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). The drug has been traditionally thought to work by blocking certain proteins that drive the rapid increase and survival of cancer cells, thus inhibiting the growth of the tumor. It may also prevent angiogenesis, the growth of new blood vessels that tumors need to grow. This new drug was tested on advanced prostate cancer through a large, phase III clinical trial named COMET-1. The trial was halted in 2014 when early results showed the drug did not extend survival in a heavily pre-treated mCRPC patient population. In the wake of these disappointing results, the drug’s manufacturer, Exelixis, laid off about 70% of its workforce.
RENEWED HOPE The results of that study were puzzling to Akash Patnaik, MD, PhD, an accomplished physicianscientist and national expert in prostate cancer research at the UChicago Medicine Comprehensive Cancer Center. The Comprehensive Cancer Center is a major center for conducting prostate cancer research through the National Cancer Institute and private sponsors.
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