Over the last decade, we have witnessed a revolution in the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer (mPC) which is an advanced and lethal form of prostate cancer. A deeper understanding of its underlying biology has led to the successful development of compounds targeting the androgen signaling pathway, the DNA damage repair and immune systems, as well as taxanes and radiopharmaceuticals.
The development of new drugs and therapeutic strategies for advanced prostate cancer is the main objectives of our Group. Our team combines the conduction of clinical trials with molecular correlative studies, following a bench-to-bedside-and-back approach to research.
We aim to integrate insights into clinical research, molecular biology, genomics, transcriptomics, computational sciences and clinical data toward developing precision medicine strategies for prostate cancer patients. To do so, our team comprises renowned medical oncologists providing care for patients with prostate cancer, biomedical scientists with expertise in cancer biology, genomics and transcriptomics, bioinformatics and liquid biopsy, and clinical data experts.
To that end, we have set up a platform for acquiring longitudinal biospecimens from patients with advanced prostate cancer, both tumor tissue as well as liquid biopsies, that can be used to investigate the evolving features of disease, as well as generate patient-derived laboratory models of advanced prostate cancer that we can leverage to investigate new therapeutic strategies at the bench.
Our clinical trial portfolio covers the disease continuum, with a focus on early phase trials of new compounds and on biology-driven therapeutic options. Moreover, investigator-initiated clinical studies are central to our research strategy, as a platform for correlative studies that can optimize the drug development pathway for prostate cancer patients. We are currently the central laboratory for two academic multi-center clinical trials and serve as the sample repository for IRONMAN; an international effort to build a large bank of clinical data and biospecimens from patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
The main lines of research are: 1) understanding how prostate cancers adapt to exposure to systemic therapies, with a particular focus on the cell cycle and DNA damage response regulation; 2) the development of novel tissue and liquid biopsy molecular characterization approaches for optimal patient stratification; and 3) to define prognostic and predictive biomarkers that can guide more precise treatment decisions. To those ends, we study in-vitro and in-vivo models, including patient-derived xenografts (PDX) from the patients participating in our clinical studies. We study genomics and transcriptomics of clinical biospecimens, with a focus on ctDNA and tumor-derived extracellular vesicles, and we leverage in-house and publicly available clinic-genomics databases.
We have also launched HOPE-Prostate, a collaborative project with the SOLTI Group and the different prostate cancer medical societies in Spain, focused on empowering patients with metastatic prostate cancer to undergo molecular testing. To facilitate this, we developed an interactive platform that integrates next-generation sequencing (NGS) of tumor samples and liquid biopsy data with patient self-reported clinical data. As part of our initiative, we study patient perspective on the value of NGS analysis. This feedback helps us understand their perception of the treatments recommended by a panel of specialists. This study is endorsed by the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer – AECC (Spanish Association Against Cancer) and the Movember Foundation. In the first year of the project, we recruited over 100 patients.
Our research is generously funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP), the Spanish Ministry of Health, CRIS Cancer Foundation, AECC, Fundación FERO, and ”la Caixa” Foundation. We also have joint projects with biotech and pharmaceutical industry partners for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
To more rapidly advance the field, we believe in team science. We therefore participate in several collaborations that pool resources and combine cross-border expertise across several different research teams and groups.
In summary, our research integrates different modalities of clinical and translational research aiming to improve the outcomes for patients with prostate cancer.
- To test and develop new therapeutic strategies for prostate cancer in clinical trials.
- Investigate correlations between molecular profiles and clinical outcome data that can guide more precise prostate cancer treatment strategies.
- Study how prostate cancer adapts to therapy, with a focus on targeting emerging vulnerabilities to delay disease recurrence.
- Investigate tumor heterogeneity in response to therapy in preclinical and patient-derived xenograft models (PDX), as well as by interrogating patient biopsies.
- Develop new liquid biopsy tools that can be used to monitor tumor evolution.
- Apply computational pipelines toward investigating genomic signatures in prostate cancer.
- Development of academic clinical trials to validate our laboratory results in the clinic and leveraging patient biopsies for correlative studies.
Group Leader
Joaquin Mateo, Joan Carles
Senior Researcher
Irene Casanova
Staff researcher
Gisela Mir
Medical oncologists
Macarena González, David Marmolejo, Rafael Morales, Cristina Suárez, Nely Diaz
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Luisa Delgado
Clinical Research Fellow
Pablo Cresta
PhD Students
Julian Brandariz
Youhao Chen
Victor Esquefa
Roma Sunder
Technicians
Teresa Casals
Laura Agundez
Lara de Llobet
Anna Oliveira
Andrei Salca
Clinical Data Curator
Haitham Alatoom
Clinical Research Coordinator
Maria del Mar Suanes
Bionformatician
Daniel Aguilar
Master's Student
Elena Endrizzi
- Mateo J, de Bono JS, Fizazi K, Saad F, Shore N, Sandhu S, Chi KN, Agarwal N, Olmos D, Thiery-Vuillemin A, Özgüroğlu M, Mehra N, Matsubara N, Young Joung J, Padua C, Korbenfeld E, Kang J, Marshall H, Lai Z, Barnicle A, Poehlein C, Lukashchuk N, Hussain M. Olaparib for the Treatment of Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer and Alterations in BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 in the PROfound Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2023 Nov 14:JCO2300339. doi: 10.1200/JCO.23.00339. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37963304.
- Gillessen S, Bossi A, Davis ID, de Bono J, Fizazi K, James ND, Mottet N, Shore N, Small E, Smith M, Sweeney CJ, Tombal B, Antonarakis ES, Aparicio AM, Armstrong AJ, Attard G, Beer TM, Beltran H, Bjartell A, Blanchard P, Briganti A, Bristow RG, Bulbul M, Caffo O, Castellano D, Castro E, Cheng HH, Chi KN, Chowdhury S, Clarke CS, Clarke N, Daugaard G, De Santis M, Duran I, Eeles R, Efstathiou E, Efstathiou J, Ekeke ON, Evans CP, Fanti S, Feng FY, Fonteyne V, Fossati N, Frydenberg M, George D, Gleave M, Gravis G, Halabi S, Heinrich D, Herrmann K, Higano C, Hofman MS, Horvath LG, Hussain M, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Jones R, Kanesvaran R, Kellokumpu-Lehtinen PL, Khauli RB, Klotz L, Kramer G, Leibowitz R, Logothetis C, Mahal B, Maluf F, Mateo J, Matheson D, Mehra N, Merseburger A, Morgans AK, Morris MJ, Mrabti H, Mukherji D, Murphy DG, Murthy V, Nguyen PL, Oh WK, Ost P, O’Sullivan JM, Padhani AR, Pezaro CJ, Poon DMC, Pritchard CC, Rabah DM, Rathkopf D, Reiter RE, Rubin MA, Ryan CJ, Saad F, Sade JP, Sartor O, Scher HI, Sharifi N, Skoneczna I, Soule H, Spratt DE, Srinivas S, Sternberg CN, Steuber T, Suzuki H, Sydes MR, Taplin ME, Tilki D, Türkeri L, Turco F, Uemura H, Uemura H, Ürün Y, Vale CL, van Oort I, Vapiwala N, Walz J, Yamoah K, Ye D, Yu EY, Zapatero A, Zilli T, Omlin A. Management of patients with advanced prostate cancer-metastatic and/or castration-resistant prostate cancer: Report of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) 2022. Eur J Cancer. 2023 May;185:178-215. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2023.02.018. Epub 2023 Mar 3. PMID: 37003085.
- Chi KN, Barnicle A, Sibilla C, Lai Z, Corcoran C, Barrett JC, Adelman CA, Qiu P, Easter A, Dearden S, Oxnard GR, Agarwal N, Azad A, de Bono J, Mateo J, Olmos D, Thiery-Vuillemin A, Harrington EA. Detection of BRCA1, BRCA2, and ATM Alterations in Matched Tumor Tissue and Circulating Tumor DNA in Patients with Prostate Cancer Screened in PROfound. Clin Cancer Res. 2023 Jan 4;29(1):81-91. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-22-0931. PMID: 36043882; PMCID: PMC9811161.
- Mateo J, Beltran H. Moving Precision Oncology for Advanced Prostate Cancer from Theory to Practice. Eur Urol Focus. 2023 Jan;9(1):110-113. doi: 10.1016/j.euf.2022.08.004. Epub 2022 Aug 20. PMID: 35999168.
- Schostak M, Bradbury A, Briganti A, Gonzalez D, Gomella L, Mateo J, Penault-Llorca F, Stenzinger A, Wyatt AW, Bjartell A. Practical Guidance on Establishing a Molecular Testing Pathway for Alterations in Homologous Recombination Repair Genes in Clinical Practice for Patients with Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol Oncol. 2023 Sep 13:S2588-9311(23)00166-9. doi: 10.1016/j.euo.2023.08.004. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37714762.
- Turpin A, Delliaux C, Parent P, Chevalier H, Escudero-Iriarte C, Bonardi F, Vanpouille N, Flourens A, Querol J, Carnot A, Leroy X, Herranz N, Lanel T, Villers A, Olivier J, Touzet H, de Launoit Y, Tian TV, Duterque-Coquillaud M. Fascin-1 expression is associated with neuroendocrine prostate cancer and directly suppressed by androgen receptor. Br J Cancer. 2023 Dec;129(12):1903-1914. doi: 10.1038/s41416-023-02449-x. Epub 2023 Oct 24. PMID: 37875732; PMCID: PMC10703930.
- Grochot R, Carreira S, Miranda S, Figueiredo I, Bertan C, Rekowski J, Yuan W, Ferreira A, Riisnaes R, Neeb A, Gurel B, de Los Dolores Fenor de la Maza M, Guo C, Carmichael J, Westaby D, Mateo J, Sharp A, McVeigh TP, De Bono J. Germline ATM Mutations Detected by Somatic DNA Sequencing in Lethal Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol Open Sci. 2023 May 2;52:72-78. doi: 10.1016/j.euros.2023.04.003. PMID: 37284046; PMCID: PMC10240520.
- Beije N, Abida W, Antonarakis ES, Castro E, de Wit R, Fizazi K, Gillessen S, Hussain M, Mateo J, Morris MJ, Olmos D, Sartor O, Sharp A, Sweeney CJ, de Bono JS. PARP Inhibitors for Prostate Cancer: Tangled up in PROfound and PROpel (and TALAPRO-2) Blues. Eur Urol. 2023 Sep;84(3):253-256. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2023.03.038. Epub 2023 Apr 20. PMID: 37087376.
- Lozano R, Castro E, Lopez-Campos F, Thorne H, Ramirez-Backhaus M, Aragon IM, Cendón-Florez Y, Gutierrez-Pecharroman A, Salles DC, Romero-Laorden N, Lorente D, González-Peramato P, Calatrava A, Alonso C, Anido U, Arévalo-Lobera S, Balmaña J, Chirivella I, Juan-Fita MJ, Llort G, Y Cajal TR, Almagro E, Alameda D, López-Casas PP, Herrera B, Mateo J, Pritchard CC, Antonarakis ES, Lotan TL, Rubio-Briones J, Sandhu S, Olmos D. Impact of concurrent tumour events on the prostate cancer outcomes of germline BRCA2 mutation carriers. Eur J Cancer. 2023 May;185:105-118. doi: 10.1016/j.ejca.2023.02.022. Epub 2023 Mar 5. PMID: 36972661.
- Casolino R, Johns AL, Courtot M, Lawlor RT, De Lorenzo F, Horgan D, Mateo J, Normanno N, Rubin M, Stein L, Subbiah V, Westphalen BC, Lawler M, Park K, Perdomo S, Yoshino T, Wu J, Biankin AV; Lancet Oncology Commission on Cancer Omics and Precision Oncology. Accelerating cancer omics and precision oncology in health care and research: a Lancet Oncology Commission. Lancet Oncol. 2023 Feb;24(2):123-125. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(23)00007-4. PMID: 36725142.
- Casanova-Salas I, Aguilar D, Cordoba-Terreros S, Agundez L, Brandariz J, Herranz N, Mas A, Gonzalez M, Morales-Barrera R, Sierra A, Soriano-Navarro M, Cresta P, Mir G, Simonetti S, Rodrigues G, Arce-Gallego S, Delgado-Serrano L, Agustí I, Castellano-Sanz E, Mast R, de Albert M, Celma A, Santamaria A, Gonzalez L, Castro N, Suanes MDM, Hernández-Losa J, Nonell L, Peinado H, Carles J, Mateo J. Circulating tumor extracellular vesicles to monitor metastatic prostate cancer genomics and transcriptomic evolution. Cancer Cell. 2024 Jul 8;42(7):1301-1312.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.06.003. PMID: 38981440.
- Garcia-Ruiz A, Macarro C, Zacchi F, Morales-Barrera R, Grussu F, Casanova-Salas I, Sanguedolce F, Gonzalez M, Cresta-Morgado P, de Albert M, Garcia-Bennett J, Marmolejo D, Planas J, Roche S, Mast R, Zatse C, Piulats JM, Herrera-Imbroda B, Regis L, Agundez L, Olmos D, Calvo N, Escobar M, Carles J, Mateo J, Perez-Lopez R. Whole-body Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a Treatment Response Biomarker in Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer with Bone Metastases: The iPROMET Clinical Trial. Eur Urol. 2024 Sep;86(3):272-274. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2024.02.016. Epub 2024 Mar 14. PMID: 38490857.
- Mateo J, de Bono JS, Fizazi K, Saad F, Shore N, Sandhu S, Chi KN, Agarwal N, Olmos D, Thiery-Vuillemin A, Özgüroğlu M, Mehra N, Matsubara N, Young Joung J, Padua C, Korbenfeld E, Kang J, Marshall H, Lai Z, Barnicle A, Poehlein C, Lukashchuk N, Hussain M. Olaparib for the Treatment of Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer and Alterations in BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 in the PROfound Trial. J Clin Oncol. 2024 Feb 10;42(5):571-583. doi: 10.1200/JCO.23.00339. Epub 2023 Nov 14. PMID: 37963304.
- Fizazi K, Azad AA, Matsubara N, Carles J, Fay AP, De Giorgi U, Joung JY, Fong PCC, Voog E, Jones RJ, Shore ND, Dunshee C, Zschäbitz S, Oldenburg J, Ye D, Lin X, Healy CG, Di Santo N, Laird AD, Zohren F, Agarwal N. First-line talazoparib with enzalutamide in HRR-deficient metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer: the phase 3 TALAPRO-2 trial. Nat Med. 2024 Jan;30(1):257-264. doi: 10.1038/s41591-023-02704-x. Epub 2023 Dec 4. Erratum in: Nat Med. 2024 May;30(5):1505. doi: 10.1038/s41591-024-02835-9. PMID: 38049622; PMCID: PMC10803259.
New in 2023:
- Title: Development of NT1, a potent and selective best-in-class drug targeting the Androgen Receptor disordered domain for the treatment of Castration Resistant Prostate Cancer.
Grantor: Programa RETOS Colaboracion Publico-Privada, Spanish Ministry of Science.
Duration: 2024-2026.
PI: Joaquin Mateo. - Title: Multimodal Biomarkers for Precise Management of Metastatic Prostate Cancer.
Grantor: Programa RETOS Colaboracion Publico-Privada, Spanish Ministry of Science.
Duration: 2023-2025.
Co-PIs: Joaquin Mateo and Raquel Perez Lopez. - Title: Impact of hormonal therapy-induced senescence in the immune-tumor interaction in prostate cancer.
Grantor: Spanish Ministry of Health, FIS Program.
Duration: 2024-2026.
PI: Nicolas Herranz. - Studying intra-tumor heterogeneity in the evolution of metastatic hormone-naïve prostate cancer to castration-resistance after intensified hormonal therapy.
Grantor: Department of Defense CDMRP (United States) 2022 Call.
Duration: 2023-2026.
PI: Joaquin Mateo.
Ongoing projects in 2023:
- Title: Clinical Qualification of DNA Repair Defects as Biomarkers in Metastatic Prostate Cancer Using Integrated Genomics and Tissue-Based Functional Assays.
Grantor: US Department of Defense Congressionally-Directed Medical Research Program.
Duration: 2018-2023.
PI: Joaquin Mateo. - Title: Leveraging the AR-DDR interaction in de-novo metastatic prostate cancer towards precision combination therapies with PARP inhibitors.
Grantor: AECC (Fundación Asociación Española contra el Cáncer).
Duration: 2020-2023.
PI: Joaquin Mateo. - Title: Integrated analysis of blood circulating tumor signatures to monitor genomic evolution and therapy responses in advanced Prostate Cancer.
Grantor: ”la Caixa” Foundation.
Duration: 2021-2024.
PI: Irene Casanova-Salas - Title: Exploiting senescence in a two-step approach to treat advanced Prostate Cancer.
Grantor: Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII).
Duration: 2021-2023.
PI: Nicolas Herranz. - Title: Tumoral senescence induced by anti-cancer therapies constitutes a novel prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target.
Grantor: AECC (Fundación Asociación Española contra el Cáncer).
Duration: 2022-2026.
Co-PIs: Manuel Serrano, Maria Abad, Raquel Perez and Joaquin Mateo - Title: Prostate Cancer Genomic Evolution and Signatures of DNA Damage Repair Deficiencies.
Grantor: CRIS Cancer Foundation.
Duration: 2021-2025.
PI: Joaquin Mateo.