A drug combination that shows little overall survival benefit in white men with advanced prostate cancer has a far greater effect in Black men with the disease, according to interim results from a study led by the Duke Cancer Institute.
The study, called PANTHER and funded by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, administered the hormone therapies apalutamide and abiraterone acetate plus prednisone to parallel groups of Black and white participants with metastatic prostate cancer.
Everardo Macias, PhD, assistant professor of Pathology at Duke University School of Medicine, explores the complexities of prostate cancer, the second leading cause of cancer death in men. His quest to find innovative cancer treatments mirrors his own incredible journey – from a migrant farm worker to a groundbreaking scientist. Years ago, the future he envisioned for himself was entirely different. A first-generation high school graduate working in the fields of Minnesota as a migrant farm worker, he never even planned to go to college. Today he leads cutting-edge research, using human cancer genetics and advanced gene testing, to tackle one of prostate cancer’s trickiest players: cancer cells that dodge usual treatments. In lab studies, his method of targeting a protein called NUAK2 successfully slowed down the lethal spread of these cells. CONTINUE READING
Duke University School of Medicine Dean and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Mary Klotman, MD, and Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) Executive Director Michael Kastan, MD, PhDinvited Pathology Chair Jiaoti Huang, MD, PhD and Duke School of Medicine Eleanor Easley Distinguished Professor Daniel George, MD, to present together to a joint meeting of the School of Medicine Board of Visitorsand the DCI Board of Advisors on Fri., Oct. 13, 2023. These leaders in the Department of Pathology (Huang) and the DCI Center for Prostate and Urologic Cancers (George) — both with extensive expertise and national recognition in the field of prostate cancer research — highlighted the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in advancing basic, translational, and clinical research in this area, which resonated well with the Boards. CONTINUE READING