Clinical Trials e-Newsletter | May 2021
Designing Immune Cells to Hunt Down Prostate Cancer
Increasing numbers of clinical trials look at new ways to harness the power of your immune system. For example, some clinical studies use a new form of immune-oncology called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell. These therapies are not chemical or hormone therapies, but first begin with your immune cells, the T cells. Then, these immune cells are modified in a lab to hunt down cells that express cancer-specific proteins.  

One such CAR-T cell therapy is P-PSMA-101-00. This therapy modifies the patient’s T cells, so these immune cells can hunt down only those cells that express prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA). PSMA is a protein found on the surface of prostate cancer cells. The P-PSMA-101-00 clinical trial is a Phase 1 trial sponsored by Poseida Therapeutics and presently studying P-PSMA effect on metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) cells.
AMG 160
In contrast to P-PSMA-101-00, other immune-oncology therapies modify antibodies' structure to help patients' T cells detect and kill prostate cancer. These modified antibodies bind to prostate cancer, which expresses PSMA on their surface, with the patient's immune cells (i.e., T cells), forming clusters. The clustering of immune cells allows for more effective killing of the cancer cells.

Amgen is presently sponsoring the AMG 160 clinical trial for men with mCRPC. This trial studies how well AMG 160 kills mCRPC alone or with pembrolizumab (Keytruda), another immuno-oncology agent. 

To find an actively enrolling clinical trial, which could benefit you, please review the below clinical trials or go to our "Find Your Trial" site, enabling you to check for a trial associated with your diagnosis. 
Clinical Trial Opportunities
There are several prostate cancer immune-oncology clinical trials actively enrolling now. PHEN encourages Black patients to consider these trials as treatment options that could offer increased benefits. In addition, these trials may provide further data supporting the benefits of immunotherapy treatment for the population most impacted by prostate cancer.

This clinical trial is for patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have failed to respond to abiraterone acetate or enzalutamide (but not both) and taxane-based chemotherapy.

This clinical trial is for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) with the purpose of determining whether combining pembrolizumab and enzalutamide can slow down prostate cancer.
For more clinical trials Information visit:
Early Detection Screening
Prostate Cancer Treatment Options
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