2022 Igor Tulchinsky, Robert Taubman and Richard Sandler – PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Outcomes of Metastatic Hormone Sensitive Prostate Cancer in Veterans: Facilitating Personalized Medicine
Martin Schoen, MD, MPH
Saint Louis Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Mentors: Kristen Sanfilippo, MD, MPH, Bruce Montgomery, MD, Ruth Etzioni, PhD
Description:
- Multiple standard-of-care treatment options are available for patients with metastatic hormone sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), such as such as androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) alone, ADT + androgen receptor (AR)-targeted therapies, and ADT + docetaxel. However, which treatment is best for each patient remains unclear, particularly among patients with comorbidities and patient groups that have been underrepresented in clinical trials.
- In this project, Dr. Martin Schoen will use data from the large, nation-wide Veterans Health Administration database to study Veterans with mHSPC and identify associations between treatment choices and patient outcomes.
- These data will be used to build a model of metastatic prostate cancer progression and survival with different treatments that accounts for both features of the cancer and patient characteristics.
- The differences in treatment outcomes will be evaluated in understudied and vulnerable populations including African Americans, veterans with cardiovascular disease/diabetes, patients over the age of 75, and those with high-volume prostate cancer.
- If successful, this project will result in biomarkers that can guide clinicians in selection of personalized regimens that are most appropriate for newly diagnosed mHSPC patients.
What this means to patients: Accurate prediction of outcomes in patients treated for mHSPC is necessary to select optimal therapies for individuals based on their tumor and patient characteristics. Dr. Schoen’s project will create a new predictive model of mHSPC treatment and outcomes in veterans with prostate cancer, which will accelerate personalized medicine for mHSPC.