Improving our understanding of metastatic prostate cancer and the effects of current and new treatments

Grant information

Reference: MA-TIA23-007
Researchers: Professor Jayne Tierney, Professor Gerhardt Attard, Dr Claire Vale, Mr David Fisher, Dr Peter Godolphin
Institution: University College London
Award: £1,733,200

What you need to know

• The researchers want to find out which treatments for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer are the most effective, and for which men.

• They will combine results and (anonymous) patient data from clinical trials to find out which characteristics of a man and his cancer are most useful for predicting his prognosis and his response to treatments.

• They will also look for reliable early measures of whether a treatment is working, which can be used to shorten future trials, so men can access newer treatments sooner than they do now.

• The researchers will also try to ensure that the most effective treatments are used in clinical practice.

Why are we funding this research?

Lots of clinical trials are studying the effects of new treatments for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer – that is, prostate cancer that has spread beyond the prostate and around the body, but still responds to hormone therapy.

But sometimes a single trial can’t always tell if a new treatment is better than another. Or it may be difficult to work out if some groups of men do better or worse on the treatment. This is really important, because we want to give treatments to those who benefit most, while avoiding giving treatments – and any related side effects – to men who don’t get any benefit.

Even if trials show a treatment helps people to live longer, it can take many years for these results to be published, meaning it will take a long time for the treatment to be approved.

What will the researchers do?

This project, called STOPCAP 2, aims to tackle these problems.

Instead of using data from a single clinical trial, the researchers in this project will collect and analyse results or (anonymous patient data) from several trials together, to work out which treatments are effective. This is called a meta-analysis.

As part of this work, they will look at not just the overall results from each trial, but also check what characteristics of a man and his cancer are most useful for predicting his response to a treatment. This will allow people to get the treatments most suited to them and avoid side effects of treatments that are not effective.

The team will also use these data to see if there are any early measures of prostate cancer control that can reliably predict whether a man will eventually live longer. Looking for these early indicators could shorten clinical trials by many years, meaning that new effective treatments could reach men more quickly than they do currently.

The researchers will also explore why the results from clinical trials are often slow to change the way doctors treat prostate cancer. By speaking with healthcare teams, policymakers, and men themselves, they will work why that might be. This will enable researchers to explain their results better, so that more men will benefit sooner.

STOPCAP will also make use of the extra information is collected in clinics and alongside clinical trials such as STAMPEDE to improve our understanding of metastatic prostate cancer and its treatments. The valuable data collected through STOPCAP can also be used to explore new questions about advanced prostate cancer and its treatments that might come up.

The project is a successor to STOPCAP, and will expand the range of treatments and participants involved and the number questions tackled.

How will this benefit men?

This research could lead to quicker access to new and effective treatments, improving men’s chances of survival and their quality of life.

What's more, by finding a way to predict how well a man will respond to treatment, the research could enable doctors to offer more personalised care, meaning each man can be reassured that he is on the best available treatment for him.

Overall, this research could ensure that men with prostate cancer receive the most effective treatment as quickly as possible, extending and improving their lives.