Ravi Madan

About Ravi Madan

• Immune checkpoint inhibitors “take the brakes” off a patient immune response, resulting in immune elimination of the cancer. Patients with melanoma, renal, bladder, lymphoma and lung cancers have been successfully treated with checkpoint immunotherapy, but clinical results in prostate cancer have been modest to date.
• It is possible that newer cancer vaccine biotechnology can amplify a patient’s immune response and might significantly increase the efficacy of immune checkpoint therapy.
• Dr. Ravi Madan will evaluate data from a clinical trial treating patients with combinations of prostvac, a promising new prostate cancer vaccine, and nivolumab, an anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor. Investigating changes in T-cell infiltration of prostate tumors will predict if this combination therapy is successful.
• If successful, Dr. Madan’s research will inform immunotherapy strategies for the treatment of prostate cancer.

What this means for patients: The development of immunotherapy strategies for advanced prostate cancer is a medical priority. This work may define a novel first-in-class immunotherapy capable of overcoming the intrinsic immunoresistance of prostate cancer.