Dr. Abida on Future Research Directions in mCRPC

Wassim Abida, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses future research directions in the treatment of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).

Despite strong prospective studies that resulted in the approval of PARP inhibitors for this patient population, more information is needed on biomarkers of response to these agents, Abida says. For example, the response rate observed with this approach in patients with a BRCA2 mutation is approximately 50%, which means that half of these patients do not respond to this treatment, Abida explains. As such, biomarkers need to be refined to better select patients for this treatment, according to Abida. This can potentially be done through the use of signature analysis, which is now possible with improved sequencing technologies, Abida adds.

Another area of research is focused on determining how to best target resistance, both in patients who do not respond to these agents up front, as well as those who develop resistance after initial response, Abida says. Although some data on mechanisms of resistance exist, more information is needed, Abida concludes.