Tool helps predicts who will respond best to targeted prostate cancer therapy

A new prognostic tool developed by researchers from theUCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and five other institutionshelps predict which men with advanced metastatic prostate cancer will respond favorably to a novel targeted therapy.The tool,described in a study published today in Lancet Oncology, analyzesa wide spectrum of imaging and clinical data and is intended to assist physicians considering treating patients with Lutetium-177 prostate-specific membrane antigen, or LuPSMA.LuPSMA, which binds to PSMA proteins and delivers targeted radiation to prostate cancer tissue, offers a new option to men with PSMA-positive metastatic cancer that is castration-resistant, meaning it has stopped responding to hormone therapy. LuPSMA is currently pending approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.Candidates for the therapy are typically screened using a technique  pioneered by UCLA and UC San Francisco called PSMA PET imaging, which combines positron emission tomography with a PET-sensitive drug to detect prostate cancer throughout thebody and verify PSMA-expression in the tumors.Thenew research demonstrates thata combination of clinical characteristics and PSMA PET imaging characteristics and can be used to predict which patients will have improved progression-free survival (slower disease progression) and improved overall survival (life expectancy) as a result of the treatment.“Until now, there has been no validated tool to adequately predict the response of patient...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news