Genitourinary Cancers
Leadership
Program Overview
Genitourinary cancers may be the broadest and most common of all malignancies, and includes everything from the rare but curable testicular cancer to prostate cancer, one of the most common types of cancer with a range of patient outcomes.
Over the last 10 years, research has dramatically led to changes in the treatment of kidney cancer and in the last two years, for prostate cancer. Duke has been a leader in clinical trials that have led to many of these improvements.
At Duke, a wide variety of professionals are researching all genitourinary cancers but the greatest efforts are focusing on prostate cancer. These researchers are not just in the School of Medicine but also throughout the university campus.
The Duke Cancer Institute has created more opportunity for these collaborations and the new building will increase their translation into clinical trials. Many of the studies -- both translational and clinical -- are looking at targeted treatments and individualized care.
Genitourinary cancer clinical research at Duke includes a number of investigator-initiated trials, especially focused in locally advanced and metastatic prostate cancer. With the strength of the multidisciplinary approach to both research and clinical care, Duke is a leader in trials of drugs that are combined with surgery and/or radiation. Meanwhile, more studies looking at advanced-stage kidney and bladder cancers have opened recently and researchers plan on doing even more clinical trials in these patient populations in the future.
Finally, basic and translational scientists at Duke have focused on research to better understand the underlying biology of prostate cancer which can lead to better treatment options. Four areas of emphasis that basic scientists are researching include:
- Androgen receptor biology
- Tumor plasticity
- Immunotherapy
- Survivorship / nutrition
