Featured Research Project: INTENSIFY trial
Timely treatment to give men with advanced prostate cancer more good years
For men diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, hormone therapy is often the first treatment they receive. However, for some men, the benefits of hormone therapy are short-lived, and their PSA levels begin to rise, signalling that the cancer has started to grow again.
Doctors usually wait until a man’s PSA level is increasing significantly before giving him chemotherapy. While chemotherapy can help delay the growth and spread of prostate cancer, it often comes with challenging side effects such as fatigue, nausea and diarrhoea.
However, researchers have long questioned whether giving an early course of docetaxel chemotherapy, alongside hormone therapy, could help keep prostate cancer under control for longer and give men more good years.
One of the most important discoveries of the last 10 years is that treatments that are effective at the later stages of the disease all appear to be more effective if you give them at the time of diagnosis.
That’s where our new UK-wide clinical trial, called INTENSIFY, could have a transformational impact on the lives of men with advanced prostate cancer. INTENSIFY investigates whether giving chemotherapy sooner, alongside hormone therapy, can help men with advanced prostate cancer live longer.
The clinical trial will be led by Professor Simon Crabb (University of Southampton), Professor Robert Jones (University of Glasgow), Professor Gerhardt Attard (University College London), and Dr Sarah Chamberlain (University of Southampton).
The study focuses on a group of men who are often overlooked: men whose PSA blood test levels suggest they’re at risk of their cancer starting to spread again relatively soon, even though they are currently responding to treatment. By targeting these men sooner, the researchers hope to extend their lives without adding unnecessary side effects.
The INTENSIFY clinical trial will recruit men with advanced cancer who’ve already been on hormone treatment for six months and whose PSA level hasn’t yet dropped below 0.2 ng/ml. This is because a higher PSA at this stage suggests the cancer might not stay under control for as long.
As well as testing the timing of chemotherapy, INTENSIFY will explore whether a new genetic test, called Decipher Prostate, can help doctors find the men who are less likely to respond well to chemotherapy, so they can be spared the side effects of a treatment that won’t help them.
Why is this research important for men?
Bob Webster, 77, lives with his wife, Julie. They have two adult children and Ollie, a dog who loves to ‘help’ him with the gardening. When he retired, Bob dug a large vegetable patch in his garden where he now grows sweetcorn, aubergines, tomatoes and more.
But a couple of years ago, Bob was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. His care team acted quickly, and he began hormone therapy straight away, with six sessions of docetaxel added shortly after.
I’m tired, but that’s the only side effect I’ve got. And if I keep busy, I can work through it. It hasn’t kept me out of the garden.
For Bob, this combination of treatments has given him the time and energy to enjoy life, even with prostate cancer. But it’s not a widely used approach; soon, INTENSIFY could change that, so more men with advanced prostate cancer can benefit from it.
We’re very grateful to Bob for sharing his story, which powerfully highlights the real-world impact this research could have.
Raising further funds to support vital research
We shared the details of the INTENSIFY clinical trial, alongside Bob's story, in a fundraising appeal to our supporters.
This appeal has already inspired supporters to donate an incredible £102,597.08 to support our work.
Thank you!
A huge thank you to all the INTENSIFY clinical trial researchers for their hard work and support, and to all our researchers whose work is helping to improve outcomes for men with prostate cancer.
