Dr. Godwin on Immunotherapy Efforts in Prostate Cancer

James L. Godwin, MD, physician, Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson Hospital, discusses immunotherapy efforts in prostate cancer.

Immunotherapy in prostate cancer is a complex topic, says Godwin. Of the genitourinary malignancies that physicians treat, prostate cancer has been the most resistant to immunotherapy compared with renal cell carcinoma and urothelial carcinoma. Strategies have been looked at in order to sensitive the local tumor microenvironment to figure out how to get T cells to better infiltrate that space.

These strategies include combination therapies, specifically using vaccines in combination with immunotherapy. Multiple NIH studies are looking at that approach, says Godwin. Other large studies are looking at the addition of immunotherapy to androgen-targeted agents. KEYNOTE-189 is evaluating the addition of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) to enzalutamide (Xtandi) in patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.