Research Explores Molecular Subtyping in Prostate Cancer.

Adam Weiner, MD, chief urology resident at Northwestern University in Chicago, UCLA Urology, discusses the results of his research on molecular subtyping in prostate cancer.

According to a presentation of the data given by Weiner at the 2022 American Urological Association Annual Meeting, there was a good amount of overlap when directly comparing this research to the PAM50 model. This included luminal-differentiating tumors having the highest AR-activity scores, and luminal proliferating tumors having the highest expression of AR and cell proliferation genes and pathways.

Additionally, basal immune tumors had the highest predicted response rate to radiation and possessed significant immune infiltration. Basal neuroendocrine tumors were also characterized by low AR-activity expression, low immune infiltration, and enrichment with neuronal gene expression.

According to Weiner, the next step will be to examine clinical data regarding how luminal cells respond to docetaxel or how basal cells respond to androgen deprivation.

Transcription:

0:08 | We presented our preliminary approach. We've completed the creation of the signature and now, we're looking at the relevant, different markers based on the 4 subgroups created by the signature, all of which are basal versus luminal cell-of-origin. It's quite striking.

0:29 | Each subgroup had a specific treatment susceptibility pattern and with that, you could use the information going forward if you have to apply additional treatments following prostatectomy or treatments if the patient has a metastatic recurrence. All of these things could be incredibly useful to practitioners.

0:49 | The next step is applying this new sub-classifier to clinical data. We've relied on gene expression signatures to preliminarily show the treatment susceptibilities based on the 4 subgroups. The next step is to take clinical data and see how the luminal cells respond to docetaxel or how the basal cells respond to androgen deprivation. Which group of tumors are the most likely to respond to radiation therapy? I think if we can show that, we can show that using a signature based on cell-of-origin is something worth our time.