Advancing Precision Medicine for Prostate Cancer Through Genomics

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in men and the second leading cause of cancer death in men in the United States. The recent surge of high-throughput sequencing of cancer genomes has supported an expanding molecular classification of prostate cancer. Translation of these basic science studies into clinically valuable biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis and biomarkers that are predictive for therapy is critical to the development of precision medicine in prostate cancer. We review potential applications aimed at improving screening specificity in prostate cancer and differentiating aggressive versus indolent prostate cancers. Furthermore, we review predictive biomarker candidates involving ETS gene rearrangements, PTEN inactivation, and androgen receptor signaling. These and other putative biomarkers may signify aberrant oncogene pathway activation and provide a rationale for matching patients with molecularly targeted therapies in clinical trials. Lastly, we advocate innovations for clinical trial design to incorporate tumor biopsy and molecular characterization to develop biomarkers and understand mechanisms of resistance.