Blood markers that predict men who need more treatment

Dr. Paul Toren

Dr. Paul Toren of the Université Laval in Québec City is zeroing in on blood markers that can predict the likelihood of prostate cancer progressing – vital information that can lead to more personalized care.

Prostate cancer cells need androgens to grow. These are hormones that promote male characteristics such as facial hair, sexual function and muscle mass. Testosterone is the main one - but not the only one. Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), which blocks the effects of androgens, is used to treat prostate cancer that is not curable with surgery or radiation alone, or has come back after another therapy has been used.

In 2016, Prostate Cancer Canada awarded Dr. Toren a Movember Discovery Grant to identify men more likely to develop cancer that does not respond to ADT and who therefore need additional treatments. Building on his team’s past research, this study showed that both androgens and estrogens measured in the blood could predict which men would develop resistant cancer sooner.

Dr. Toren says: “Cancer is complex and understanding the underlying biology gives us opportunities to offer better and more personalized treatments. I really enjoy the process of making new discoveries, particularly those which have a clear path to improving patient care, like the work my team and I are doing right now.”