Targeting treatment‑resistant spots to extend benefit in advanced prostate cancer
Official title: Project 3: Extending Clinical Benefit by Selective Treatment of Resistant Lesions in mCRPC
Funded at University of Wisconsin-Madison · NIH-11184192 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project finds resistant tumor spots with advanced PET/CT imaging and uses focused radiation to help men with metastatic castration‑resistant prostate cancer stay on effective systemic therapy longer.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Wisconsin-Madison NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Madison, United States) |
| Project start | July 1, 2023 |
| Project end | July 1, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $362,884 |
| NIH project number | 5P50CA269011-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11184192 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are men with metastatic castration‑resistant prostate cancer on second‑generation androgen‑signaling inhibitors who show PSA changes suggesting early progression while many lesions still appear to respond.
✕Less likely to help
Patients with widespread resistance across most metastases, those who cannot undergo PET/CT imaging, or those who are not eligible for SBRT may not gain benefit from this approach.
What this research studies
You will get advanced PET/CT scans analyzed with a new method called Quantitative Total Extensible Imaging (QTxI) to identify which individual metastases are not responding to treatment. Imaging will be done at PSA nadir, at PSA progression, and again after 12 weeks to track lesion‑level responses. The team will run virtual models using different PET metrics to pick which resistant lesions to target and predict the effect of ablating them on total tumor burden. Finally, they will test whether selectively treating those resistant lesions with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is practical and can extend clinical benefit.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could let men with mCRPC stay on effective systemic drugs longer and delay overall disease progression by locally treating resistant lesions.
How similar studies have gone: Local ablative therapies like SBRT have shown benefit in oligometastatic prostate cancer, but combining lesion‑level PET analytics with selective ablation in mCRPC is relatively new and not yet proven.
Where this research is happening
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University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Jeraj, Robert — University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Study coordinator: Jeraj, Robert
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Dual Targeting of B7-H3 in metastatic prostate cancer
A Johns Hopkins team is testing two targeted therapies against B7-H3 to help people with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer feel better and show tumor responses.
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Hyperactive methylation in a hard-to-treat prostate cancer subtype
Researchers are studying a newly identified methylation-heavy group of advanced prostate cancer to understand its biology and find clues for better treatments.
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Extending Benefit by Targeting Resistant Lesions in mCRPC
A cancer center plans to identify on-treatment resistant spots in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer and then use targeted local therapy to those spots while systemic treatment continues.
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CXCR1/2 inhibitor plus enzalutamide for abiraterone-resistant metastatic prostate cancer
A phase 2 study tests whether adding SX-682 to enzalutamide helps men with advanced prostate cancer that no longer responds to abiraterone.
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Multidimensional approach to boost PSMA-RPT success in advanced prostate cancer
A cancer research grant aims to better understand why PSMA-targeted radiopharmaceutical therapy works sometimes but not always for advanced prostate cancer, with the goal of making treatments more effective for patients who need them.
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Targeted radiation approach for prostate cancer without continuous castration
A study testing a targeted radiation plan for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer to improve outcomes and quality of life by avoiding continuous castration for those receiving PSMA-directed therapy.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.