iPROSPECT was established in 2014 with funding from the Irish Cancer Society in partnership with Movember. iPROSPECT consists of connected and supported projects, all of which are integrated to bring about a transformation from current practice to a more individual and personalised treatment of patients with metastatic prostate cancer in order to improve patient outcomes.
The iPROSPECT team is led by the triumvirate leadership of Dr Ray McDermott (TCD), Prof Stephen Finn (TCD) and Prof William Watson (UCD). Principal Investigators on the first series of projects are Dr Sharon Glynn (NUIG), Prof Stephen Finn (TCD) and Dr Antoinette Perry (TCD).
The team are all members of the National Prostate Cancer Research Consortium (NPCRC), established in 2011 to bring together like-minded scientists, clinicians, epidemiologists, health economists, statisticians, research nurses and allied healthcare professional from the academic research institutes of TCD, NUI-Galway, UCD, UCC, DCU and RCSI and the well-established organisations All Ireland Cooperative Oncology Research Group (ICORG), the National Cancer Registry, Ireland (NCRI) and the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE).
iPROSPECT Team:
Dr Ray McDermot
PI and Clinical Director
Prof Stephen Finn
Translational Director
Prof William Watson
Scientific Director
Dr Suzanne Bracken
Programme Coordinator
Project 1:
Evolution of the CRPC Epigenome and its Clinical Application for delivering Precision Medicine
Dr Antoinette Perry, UCD
PI
Dr Aidan Toner, UCD
Postdoctoral fellow
Project 2:
Discovery and Clinical Implementation of Novel Predictive Biomarkers for Enzalutamide therapy
Prof Stephen Finn, TCD
PI
Dr Orla Casey,
TCD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Project 3:
The Prostate Cancer – Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells Para-endocrine Axis in the metastatic tumour microenvironment: Impact on tumour response to metastatic targeted therapies.
Dr Sharon Glynn, NUIG
PI
Dr Karen O’Leary
Postdoctoral Fellow
Translational Study
The translational study is being implemented by ICORG in hospitals across Ireland including: Tallaght Hospital (AMNCH), St Vincent’s University Hospital, St Vincent’s Private Hospital, The Beacon Hospital, St. James’s Hospital, Cork University Hospital, Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Mater Private Hospital, Beaumont Hospital, Sligo General Hospital, and Waterford Regional Hospital.
The study currently has 2 cohorts of patients:
Cohort 1 (recruitment now complete): patients with metastatic prostate cancer who have commenced or are about to commence androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT)
Cohort 2 (recruitment open): patients with castrate-resistant metastatic prostate cancer.
In addition to routine biospecimen collection, e.g. bloods for clinical chemistry and haematology, more in-depth monitoring on a genomic, epigenomic and proteomic scale will be performed to delineate factors which may aid stratification of patients for treatment. Analysis will be performed primarily within patient with measurements taken at baseline, before each new treatment is commenced and regularly during treatment. This longitudinal study will investigate how clinical and biological patterns change over time and relate to each individual’s treatment response and progression of disease. See table below for biospecimen and data types collected.
| Baseline | Every 4 months | Optional study | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plasma | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Serum | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Circulating Tumour Cells (from Blood) | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Archival Prostate Tumour Tissue | ✔ | ||
| Metastatic Tumour Tissue | ✔ | ||
| Bone Marrow Tissue/Aspirate | ✔ | ||
| MRI | ✔ | ||
| Quality of Life Questionnaires (PCRC lifestyle, FACT-P, Brief Pain Inventory- Short form) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
For more information about iPROSPECT, contact suzanne.bracken@crdi.ie