OBJECTIVES:
* To identify the molecular and pathophysiological changes which occur during the early stages of androgen deprivation (AD) and during emerging castration-resistant prostate cancer.
* To test functional imaging as a non-invasive tool to measure treatment response and validate this using biological endpoints.
* To develop clinical models to predict how tumors will respond to AD and identify new targets once AD fails.
OUTLINE:
* Group A: Patients likely to receive androgen deprivation (AD) as first-line therapy undergo blood and prostate biopsy sample collection before and after treatment on days 0 and 14 or 90. Patients receive an androgen receptor inhibitor followed by maintenance with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogue beginning on day 0. Patients also undergo diffusion-weighted MRI, MR spectroscopic imagining, quantitative T1W mapping, and T1W perfusion sequence.
* Group B: Patients already receiving AD undergo blood and prostate biopsy sample collection within 4 weeks of diagnosis of castration-resistant prostate cancer and before initiating any second-line therapy.
Blood and tissue samples are assessed via DNA and RNA genetic analysis, gene expression studies, and comparative genomic hybridization to identify novel markers of androgen response and resistance.
Peer Reviewed and Funded or Endorsed by Cancer Research UK.
