Bringing AUA Advances Into the Clinic

OncLive Chairman,

Mike Hennessy

Each year at the American Urological Association study led by Alan P. Lombard, PhD, of the University (AUA) Annual Meeting, there is always something new and exciting to discover. Not only does the meeting feature stellar research, engaging panel discussions, and informative lectures from experts in the field, but it also offers an opportunity for urologists from around the world to gather.

This international collaboration is essential as we move forward in deepening our understanding of genitourinary (GU) cancers and strategies for improving outcomes. Although the AUA is a US-based organization, its commitment to include researchers and experts from other nations is crucial in keeping urologists fully informed on best clinical practices.

This issue of Urologists in Cancer Care^® includes a report from the conference, “Benefit Confirmed for EBRT Plus ADT in Locally Advanced Prostate Cancer,” about research from Paul Sargos, MD, a radiotherapy oncologist at the Institut Bergonié in Bordeaux, France. Long-term study results indicate that the addition of external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) to androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) reduced the risk of disease progression more than 70% compared with ADT alone among patients with locally advanced prostate cancer. These positive results could open urologists and their patients to a combination treatment strategy they may not have considered before and would improve survival for some patients.

Of course, research from American investigators was not lacking at this year’s AUA. In a fascinating of California Davis Medical Center, results indicated that inhibiting overexpression of the ABCB1 gene helps prevent resistance to docetaxel and cabazitaxel (Jevtana) in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

“Our previous work showed that increased expression of ABCB1 was largely responsible for mediating resistance to docetaxel. Thus, we sought to test whether this would alter cellular response to cabazitaxel,” Lombard and colleagues wrote in their abstract. The study concluded that inhibiting this gene with antiandrogen therapy, such as enzalutamide (Xtandi) and bicalutamide (Casodex), could increase the efficacy of taxane-based therapies in patients with CRPC.

This new information may eventually be a crucial piece to the puzzle for improving the treatment of patients with CRPC. If we can adjust treatment strategies, even re-sensitize cells to treatment with cabazitaxel, we could be that much closer to that elusive “cure” for CRPC.

These are just 2 studies that we highlight in this issue, and the advancements in treating GU cancers are only looking more positive as time goes on. If the field can retain its momentum, we will be able to improve outcomes and possibly cure these diseases.