Dr. Tewari on Key Differences Between Racial Subgroups in Prostate Cancer

Ashutosh K. Tewari, MD, chairman, Milton and Carroll Petrie Department of Urology, Icahn School of Medicine, director, Department of Urology, Mount Sinai, discusses some of the key differences between racial subgroups in prostate cancer.

In Black men, prostate cancer tends to be more metastasized compared with other racial groups, says Tewari. However, this disease presentation may lend some leverageable characteristics with regard to therapeutic strategies, Tewari explains.

For example, because Black men tend to have more immunologically inflamed disease, vaccines and immunotherapy may be more beneficial treatment options in this population vs other racial groups, Tewari says. Additionally, certain enzymes responsible for DNA damage repair tend to be more present in some men vs others and could be targeted by agents, such as PARP inhibitors.

As such, identifying unique disease characteristics in Black men with prostate cancer could provide critical insight into optimizing therapeutic opportunities, concludes Tewari.