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Blood Test to Detect Castration- Resistant Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer

A novel, non-invasive way of detecting patients with castration-resistant neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) by measuring NEPC specific genomic and epigenomic targets.

  • Diagnostics

Project Overview

  • Prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer world-wide, primarily driven by androgen-receptor (AR) signaling. Despite significant advances targeting AR signaling, treatment resistance remains a universal problem.
  • Loss of AR signaling dependence occurs in approximately 15-20% of treatment-resistant prostate cancers, and this may manifest clinically as a transformation from a prostate adenocarcinoma histology to neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC). 
  • Dana-Farber scientists have developed a non-invasive test of cell free DNA for detecting NEPC.
  • Dana‑Farber is seeking a development or commercial partner or licensing.

Technology

This technology identifies NEPC features detectable in circulating blood by evaluation of DNA methylation of cell free DNA (cfDNA). In addition to detecting NEPC, this methylation-based assay can quantify tumor fraction in the circulation, detect other phenotypic subtypes of prostate cancer representing lineage plasticity transition states, and identify biologically relevant markers (e.g., EZH2) to inform patient selection for emerging therapies. 

Benefits of the technology:

  • Unlike biopsies, this technology can identify the presence of NEPC from blood samples in a non-invasive manner.
  • The technology can detect features in patients at high risk for transformation even without NEPC histology, paving the way for early intervention treatment strategies.

Team Members: Himisha Beltran, MD, Francesca Demichelis, PhD

Applications

The diagnosis of NEPC currently relies on a metastatic tumor biopsy, which is invasive for patients and sometimes challenging to diagnose due to morphologic heterogeneity. 

The technology identifies a novel, non-invasive way of detecting patients with castration-resistant NEPC by measuring NEPC specific epigenomic targets from circulating tumor DNA. In addition to being non-invasive, unlike tissue biopsies, this approach can identify early signatures before histology changes, providing opportunities for early intervention. 

Opportunities

Dana‑Farber is seeking a development or commercial partner or licensing. 

Get in touch

Team Members

Himisha Beltran, MD

Associate Professor, Division of Molecular and Cellular Oncology and Department of Medical Oncology in the Lank Division of Genitourinary Oncology, Dana-Farber

Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School