Prostate Cancer Awareness Month: 2020 Immunotherapy Research Updates September 3, 2020December 14, 2022 CRI Staff On June 16, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda), a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with unresectable or metastatic cancers—including prostate cancer—with high tumor mutational burden (TMB-H). This is the second biomarker-based indication regardless of tumor type and a sign of the growing importance of biomarkers and genomic sequencing in cancer research and care. This September for Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, we look at new treatment combinations, new research, and how we’re working toward a future immune to prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Quiz Prostate Cancer Treatment Update We spoke with Sumit K. Subudhi, MD, PhD, an expert in prostate cancer at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who also leads our PORTER prostate cancer trial. He discusses the mechanics of therapeutic vaccine treatment, the challenges of checkpoint immunotherapies, and understanding the tumor microenvironment. READ Q&A with Dr. Subudhi Ask Your Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer Questions Join Dr. Sumit Subudhi for a special prostate cancer breakout session at the inaugural CRI Virtual Immunotherapy Patient Summit. He’ll discuss exciting scientific and clinical research and answer your questions. This free event connects you to fellow patients and immunotherapy experts, all from the comfort and safety of your own home and at no cost to you. Reserve your spot at the CRI Virtual Summit Prostate Cancer Survivor Story Only a couple years into his retirement, John was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer. As a former biotechnology engineer, he was familiar with immunotherapy and happy to find, after genomic sequencing, that he was a good candidate to receive a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor. Now, five years after beginning immunotherapy, he has a complete and long-lasting remission with no evidence of disease. Read John’s prostate cancer story Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer Information Updated Immunotherapy for prostate cancer includes two FDA-approved treatment options—a therapeutic cancer vaccine and a checkpoint inhibitor—and is a promising area of research for metastatic cancer treatment. VIEW Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer UPDATE Find a Prostate Cancer Clinical Trial A variety of new and promising cancer immunotherapy treatments are only available to patients in clinical trials. Our Immunotherapy Clinical Trial Finder will match you to trials for which you may be eligible, and you can help speed the development of potentially lifesaving drugs for yourself and others. FIND A cancer immunotherapy clinical TRIAL Support Prostate Cancer Research Last year, the CRI Anna-Maria Kellen Clinical Accelerator, in collaboration with the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, launched a prostate cancer platform clinical trial evaluating different treatment combinations including the PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab. Rather than test new drugs or drug combinations in sequence, we can now test them simultaneously. Rather than waste time, energy, and money setting up a new trial each time a change needs to be made, this innovative platform trial design allows for mid-course corrections. As a result, ineffective treatment strategies can be stopped and the next promising approach tested, all within the same trial. The impact is tangible: cancer patients are able to receive the most promising immunotherapy treatments without interruption. This Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, support lifesaving cancer immunotherapy research. DONATE to prostate cancer research Read more: Post navigation Advances in Immunotherapy for Prostate Cancer with Dr. Sumit Subudhi Read Story How Immunotherapy is Making an Impact in Gynecologic Cancers Read Story
