About

PRECEPT – PRostatE CancEr Prognosis and Treatment: Overview of the project (PDF).

The hypothesis of the study is that changes identified in the genomic/epigenomic/transcriptional landscape of prostate cancer drives progression of localised disease, and can be used to prognosticate natural history, design better treatments and predict therapeutic response. Our specific aims are:

  1. To develop a prostate tissue-based and plasma test to predict the natural history of clinically localised prostate cancer
    • To develop a tissue based prognostic test that:
      • identifies a genomic driver of localised prostate cancer
      • is specific for African-Ancestry
      • identifies key drivers of disease metastasis
    • To develop a plasma based ctDNA test to identify high risk features
    • To conduct decision making analysis that will support treatment de-escalation
  2. To develop new treatment approaches to high-risk disease that improve patient outcomes via the establishment of:
    • Androgen deprivation and erdafitinib pre-prostatectomy trial (ADEPT study)
    • Immune mobilisation for prostate cancer study (IMPROvE)
  3. To develop companion biomarkers that predict response to systemic treatments in high risk disease
    • To validate a compound tumour suppressor signature
    • To validate the genomic marker of androgen sensitivity

The research program runs from July 2019 to June 2022.

A successful program will significantly impact the clinical management of men with localised prostate cancer by:

  1. Allowing identification of men with lethal disease earlier in the natural history, providing the opportunity for treatment intensification.
  2. Providing reassurance to a proportion of men with localised disease for whom treatment is currently recommended, that treatment intensification is unnecessary, or indeed, that radical treatment can be avoided.
  3. Developing new multimodal strategies for treating patients with lethal disease at an early stage, to maximise long-term disease control and minimise morbidity.
  4. Validating a number of biomarkers that may predict response to systemic therapies, permitting individualisation of patient care.