Dr. Vogelzang Discusses PROSPECT Trial for Prostate Cancer

Nicholas J. Vogelzang, MD, site research leader for Comprehensive Cancer Centers of Nevada, member of US Oncology Network, 2018 Giant of Cancer Care® for Genitourinary Cancer, discusses results from the PROSPECT trial for prostate cancer.

Vogelzang explains that the idea of the study was to stimulate the immune system of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), specifically in those whose cancer returned after hormone ablation. Generally, Vogelzang says, physicians treat prostate cancer by eliminating testosterone, causing the disease to fade for a brief time. Then, as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels go up, the cancer comes back.

PROSPECT randomized men to receive an immune-stimulating virus called PROSTVAC-V/F, which actually held characteristics of prostate cancer, with the hope that it would create a bystander effect. The trial failed to indicate any benefit in overall survival, which was the study’s primary endpoint.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work at all,” says Vogelzang. “It had no effect on the prostate death rate or the prostate growth rate.”