Prostate Cancer Early Detection & Intervention

We are a multidisciplinary research group in the Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge, bringing together clinicians, scientists and data analysts to improve the lives of men with prostate cancer. We focus on the years before prostate cancer becomes life-threatening: why some cancers stay quiet while others become lethal, and how we can tell the difference early enough to act.

Our goal is fewer men dying of prostate cancer, and fewer men overtreated for disease that would never have caused harm. To get there, we use diagnostic biopsies, prostate tissue from surgery and blood samples (“liquid biopsies”) to find molecular “fingerprints” that reveal which cancers are dangerous, how they respond to treatment, and when they start to change.

A major theme of our work is bringing powerful treatments, originally developed for advanced disease, into earlier settings where they may prevent future harm. We are particularly interested in drugs that target DNA repair, such as PARP inhibitors – both for men with inherited changes in DNA repair genes and for men without these changes, where combinations with hormone (androgen-targeting) therapies may still offer benefit. Using surgical “window” trials around prostatectomy, and carefully linked tissue and plasma studies, we can test these ideas directly in patients and understand who stands to gain most.

Our work is closely linked to the Cambridge Cancer Centre and the developing Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital, and is supported by UK and international charities, research funders and industry partners.