Does clinical benefit of ipatasertib outweigh risk for adverse events?

Roche/Genentech’s investigational drug ipatasertib has demonstrated a small but statistically significant benefit in the treatment of men with metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who had tumors exhibiting loss of the phosphatase and tensin (PTEN) homolog: a 2-month improvement in median radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS). … READ MORE …

Ipatasertib meets one of two primary endpoints in Phase III trial

According to a media release issued by Roche earlier this morning, the company’s investigational drug known as ipatasertib met one but not both of the two primary endpoints in a randomized, double-blind Phase III trial known as the IPATential150 trial. … READ MORE …

Is PTEN loss a risk factor for progression of men on active surveillance?

A newly published paper in the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases has explored the above question based on data from the Johns Hopkins active surveillance (AS) cohort of men with initially low- or very low-risk prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Liquid biopsies and CTC assays — the scientific progress continues

A paper in the British Journal of Cancer has offered further validation of the potential roles for liquid biopsies and circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the management of aggressive forms of prostate cancer (and in related clinical trials). … READ MORE …

PTEN expression and risk for progressive disease in low-risk patients

A new paper by Cuzick and colleagues has suggested that loss of expression of the PTEN gene, which encodes for a protein known as phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN), may be significantly associated with heightened risk of progressive disease in a cohort of nominally low-risk patients. … READ MORE …

Gene copy number alteration analysis and risk for prostate cancer-specific mortality

A new study, to published shortly on-line in Cancer, suggests that significant alterations to the “copy numbers” of the PTEN and MYC genes in men with prostate cancer are strongly associated with risk for prostate cancer-specific mortality. … READ MORE …

PTEN, MAN2C1, and the identification of potentially aggressive forms of prostate cancer

A new article in Nature Communications has suggested that we may be able to specifically identify some aggressive forms of prostate cancer cells that come with high risk for metastatic prostate cancer even at low PSA levels and other less aggressive forms of prostate cancer cell. … READ MORE …

Could just three genes identify potentially lethal prostate cancer?

A new report from members of the Transatlantic Prostate Study Group has suggested that information about three specific genes may be sufficient to identify a high proportion of men with potentially lethal as opposed to indolent prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Prostate cancer news reports: Friday, May 22, 2009

Today’s news reports cover items on:

  • Gene expression and prostate cancer progression
  • Risk of complications from in-office prostate biopsy
  • Post-RALP voiding function
  • Urinary toxicities after IMRT-SIB
  • Drugs in development for CRPC … READ MORE …