Metastatic prostate cancer and innate immunity v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Metastatic PROstate cancer and INnate immunity: Finding a predictive biomarker for response to TAXanes (ProTaxIn)
IRAS ID
257083
Contact name
Ananya Choudhury
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
The Christie NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
NA, NA
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer and the second commonest cause of male cancer mortality in western countries. In the last years, there is increasing evidence that the immune system is of great importance in development and treatment of tumours.
Taxanes are well established chemotherapeutic agents in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. However, there is primary and secondary resistance to this treatments and substantial toxicity. From preclinical models there is growing evidence that the immune signature in the microenvironment of the tumour and in the blood are of great importance and may be a possible predictor of resistance to Taxanes. In this project, we therefore intend to investigate different cells and hormones of the immune system in tissue and blood samples of prostate cancer patients undergoing treatment with docetaxel as part of standard of care. Our hypothesis is that a predominance of certain cell types of the immune system ( so called repair/wound healing macrophages)and corresponding cytokines is correlated with resistance to therapy with taxanes. If our hypothesis holds true, this could help select the right patients for taxane monotherapy with the greatest chance for benefit from this treatment. This is important to spare toxicity in patients with a dismal chance to respond to taxanes. Morever, results from this study can improve our understanding of the effects of chemotherapy on our immune system and may create a rationale for combination therapies with greater efficacy in future clinical trials.
This study is planned as a single-centre study carried out at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, it will recruit 90 patients in total over a period of approx 2 years with a first feasibility part of 25 patients. Eligible for participation are patients with castration resistant metastatic prostate cancer planned for treatment with docetaxel.REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/NW/0089
Date of REC Opinion
5 Apr 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion