Prevalence and detection of neuroendocrine differentiated PCa (NEPC)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prevalence and detection of neuroendocrine differentiated PCa (NEPC).
IRAS ID
250625
Contact name
Adam Frampton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Uiversity of Surrey
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Prostate Cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer in men in the UK with over 47000 men diagnosed with the disease every year. In most cases PCa is suspected as a result of symptoms caused by an enlarged prostate and following detection of raised levels of Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) in the blood. Diagnosis is confirmed following a biopsy of the prostate. In the early stages of the disease the growth of the cancer may be slow allowing the patient to be put monitored without treatment. For more aggressive disease, treatment may involve a prostatectomy to remove the prostate followed by conventional radiotherapy or chemotherapy. Hormone therapy may be considered which involves removal of the hormone testosterone, shown to increase the growth of prostate tumours, by using drugs which either prevent its production or which block it from reaching the tumour cells (androgen deprivation therapy/ADT)
Despite treatment, a considerable proportion of ADT-treated patients will be diagnosed with progressive disease. Progression of PCa in this manner is termed castration-resistant prostate adenocarcinoma (CRPC). It has been reported that up to 45% of CRPCs carry hallmarks of a highly aggressive cancer, neuroendocrine differentiated prostate cancer (NEPC).
NEPC does not secrete PSA and so clinicians currently have no method to detect if a patient’s PCa has progressed to NEPC. NEPC does not respond to conventional treatment for PCa. We would like to study biopsy tissue taken form advanced prostate cancer patients as part of their routine treatment in order to assess if the cancer has progressed to NEPC. We would also like to request a 30ml blood sample from the patient in order to assess if we can detect NEPC cells or markers in the blood. The ultimate aim is to develop a way to detect NEPC and also to develop new treatments for NEPC.REC name
West Midlands - South Birmingham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0099
Date of REC Opinion
29 May 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion