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2020 Neil & Sandra DeFeo Family Foundation-PCF Young Investigator Award

Association of Circulating Markers of Pro-Tumorigenic Inflammation with Clinical Progression and Race-Ethnicity in Men with Prostate Cancer

Jessica Hawley, MD, MS

Assistant Professor

Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch

Mentors: Charles Drake, MD, PhD

Description:

  • The development of blood-based biomarkers that can monitor or predict responses to therapy in men with prostate cancer is of great clinical importance.
  • Cytokines are proteins that are released from cells and regulate the functions of many cell types. Cytokines are best known for their functions in regulating immune responses, but can also regulate tumor growth.
  • Dr. Jessica Hawley is studying whether serum cytokine levels and antibodies have potential as biomarkers in prostate cancer patients undergoing various treatments.
  • In this project, Dr. Hawley will determine whether serum levels of certain tumor-promoting cytokines change during treatment with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) or the immunotherapy sipuleucel-T, and correlate with patient outcomes.
  • Whether serum cytokine levels are predictive for improved outcomes in African American men being treated with sipuleucel-T will be investigated.
  • The antibody profiles of patients undergoing treatment with sipuleucel-T will be comprehensively profiled. Whether anti-tumor antibodies are induced by the treatment and correlate with clinical outcomes and as a function of race and ethnicity, will be investigated.
  • If successful, this project will validate serum cytokines and antibodies as predictive biomarkers in prostate cancer patients undergoing certain treatments, and determine if these differ by race and ethnicity. This has implications for reducing health disparities as well as for identifying promising new immunotherapy treatment targets.

What this means to patients: Dr. Hawley is studying whether serum cytokines and anti-tumor antibodies have potential as biomarkers for treatment selection in men with prostate cancer. This project also aims to reduce health disparities by specifically studying African American patients. This will ultimately improve precision medicine for patients and may identify possible new immunotherapy treatment targets.