Recent Progress on the Molecular Front for the Treatment of Prostate Cancer

A. Oliver Sartor, MD, Director of the Tulane Cancer Center, discusses the recent progress for the treatment of prostate cancer.

At the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Meeting, Sartor says, there was not much clinical progress in prostate cancer presented, as there was no new positive phase III data.

There was, however, progress on the molecular front. Molecular scientists are getting better at analyzing RNAs, DNAs, and mutations and it is now possible to genomically analyze cancer cells at a single cell level from the bloodstream. This finding is truly remarkable, Sartor says.

In a recent study, it was demonstrated that one cancer cell in a patient and another are not necessarily the same: Heterogeneity extends down to the cellular level. There is still a lot to learn, Sartor insists, as the approach to developing targeted therapies is more difficult than previously thought.

Clinical Pearls

Radium-223 is unique in this regard, in that it can overcome heterogeneity and kill all mutations.

• There has been recent progress on the molecular front for the treatment of prostate cancer
• It is now possible to genomically analyze single cancer cells
• Cancer heterogeneity extends to the cellular level