Using a window of opportunity to test a new approach to slowing prostate cancer progression

Grant Information

Institute - University of Oxford
Researcher - Professor Val Macaulay
Grant Award - £468,673
Duration of Funding - 2021-2025
Status - Complete
Reference - RIA16-ST2-024

Why did we fund this project?

• Men with higher levels of a hormone called IGF‑1 are at higher risk of developing prostate cancer. 
  
  

• Professor Val Macaulay and her team showed that IGF‑1 plays a key role in driving progression of early-stage, localised prostate cancer.
  
  

• Building on this work, the team set out to investigate whether a drug blocking IGF‑1 could help slow the growth of localised prostate cancer.

What did the researchers do?

• The team carried out a trial called WINGMEN to determine whether a drug targeting IGF-1 was safe and could effectively slow the growth of prostate cancer in men awaiting surgery.
  
  

• There's normally a four-week window between a man’s decision to have surgery and the operation, which the researchers used to give men the treatment.
  
  

• The team also analysed blood and prostate cancer samples collected before and after treatment to understand how prostate cancer cells reacted to the drug.

What did the researchers achieve? 

• Encouragingly, the study showed that the drug was safe, lowered IGF-1 levels, and helped stop prostate cancer cells from growing as quickly.
  
  
• The drug also increased the number of immune cells in men’s blood and within the prostate cancer, supporting the body’s natural ability to destroy cancer cells.

How will this benefit men?

• While these results are very encouraging, this was a small trial, so larger studies are now needed to confirm that the drug is safe and effective.
  
  

• In these future trials, researchers will test whether drugs targeting IGF-1 could help men stay on active surveillance for longer, with the aim of safely delaying treatment and its associated side effects.