Prostate SPOREs
Prostate cancer (PrCa) is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men. In 2023, there is an estimated 288,300 new cases and 34,700 deaths for the United States. The highest incidence is found in non-Hispanic black men at 176.2 cases per 100K vs 82.6 per 100K in other populations averaged. The percent of patients surviving for 5 years is 99% for local and regional disease but 32% for metastatic disease. The current PrCa SPOREs are highly collaborative translational research teams, sharing resources and conducting inter-institutional clinical studies for the prevention, monitoring, and treatment of PrCa. Translational research projects within the prostate SPOREs explore blood and urine biomarkers for risk stratification, germline genetic variants to predict aggressive cancers, the molecular evolution of resistance to androgen deprivation therapies and the development of neuroendocrine prostate cancer, and cellular mechanisms involved in metastatic PrCa. Novel therapeutics are being developed for the androgen receptor pathway inhibition, DNA damage repair and epigenetic pathways, immunotherapeutic approaches, targeting the tumor microenvironment and many other cellular pathways.