This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Staff Scientists
- Pedro P. Lopez-Casas
Post-Doctoral Fellows
- Carlo Cattrini
- María Isabel Pacheco
Technicians
- Mónica Balsells
- Eva María Casas
- Ylenia Cendón
- Jenniffer Patricia Condo
- Leticia Rivera
- Alejandro Sanz
Prostate cancer (PrCa) is one of the most heritable human cancers. Inherited mutations in several genes involved in DNA damage response and repair have been reported to predispose men to PrCa, including mutations in BRCA2. Seminal work from our Group has established that these mutations are an independent prognostic factor for the disease.
The Prostate Cancer Clinical Research Unit remains a major contributor to CNIO’s scientific productivity, with a total IF > 90 in 2019, and an accumulated IF > 500 since the Unit’s creation in 2012. These figures include 15 manuscripts led or co-led by the team in first-decile journals, and 3 major contributions to clinical practice included in the NCCN, EAU, ASCO, and/or ESMO PrCa management and treatment guidelines. Our associated CNIO-IBIMA CRU has consolidated as the biggest disease-specific CNIO clinical unit in numbers of CNIO sponsored studies and patients enrolled in these studies. The Unit has contributed significantly to major clinical trials in the field, such as SPARTAN or PROFOUND (both published in NEJM with D. Olmos as author), that led to the approvals of the novel anti-androgen apalutamide and the PARP inhibitor olaparib, respectively. In 2019, this Unit enrolled a record of 132 patients in prostate cancer trials.
Our Group continues to be successful in securing competitive national and international grants. 2019 was a record year in terms of funding: we received the ‘Excellence in Research’ CRIS Foundation Grant, the prestigious ‘Proyectos AECC Grant’, as well as 1 of the Top 3 AES-ISCIII research grants (both in scoring and financial support). Overall this positions our Unit as one of top performing units at CNIO, contributing significantly to the excellence profile of the institution.
Publications
- (2020). Genetic aberrations in DNA repair pathways: a cornerstone of precision oncology in prostate cancer. Br J Cancer (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2020). HSD3B1 (1245A>C) Germline Variant and Clinical Outcomes in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients Treated With Abiraterone and Enzalutamide: Results From Two Prospective Studies. Ann Oncol 31, 1186-1197. CNIO Publication.
- (2020). Apalutamide and Overall Survival in Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2020). BRCA Mutations in Prostate Cancer: Prognostic and Predictive Implications. Journal of Oncology (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2020). Epidemiological Characteristics and Survival in Patients with De Novo Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Cancers 12, 2855. CNIO Publication.
- (2020). Influence of the Technique and Comorbidities in Hypofractionated Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer. Clin Transl Oncol 22, 311-318. CNIO Publication.
- (2019). Risk Prediction Tools Available for Germline BRCA1/2 Mutations Underperform in Prostate Cancer Patients.. Eur Urol Oncol (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2019). Apalutamide and overall survival in non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Ann Oncol 30, 1813-1820. CNIO Publication.
- (2019). Current Treatment Options for Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer. Cancers 11, E1355. CNIO Publication.
Open Access
- (2019). Relevance of radium-223 in hospital clinical practice from a medical oncologist point of view. Rev Esp Med Nucl Imagen Mol. 38, 106-111. CNIO Publication.
- (2019). Plasma Androgen Receptor and Docetaxel for Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol 75, 368-373. CNIO Publication.
- (2019). Isolation and characterization of myogenic precursor cells from human cremaster muscle. Sci. Reports 9, 3454. CNIO Publication.
Open Access
- (2019). BRCA2 and Other DDR Genes in Prostate Cancer. Cancers 11, E352. CNIO Publication.
Open Access
- (2019). PROREPAIR-B: A Prospective Cohort Study of the Impact of Germline DNA Repair Mutations on the Outcomes of Patients With Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. J Clin Oncol 37, 490-503. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Circulating Tumor Cell Increase as a Biomarker of Disease Progression in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Patients with Low Baseline CTC Counts.. Ann Oncol (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Circulating tumour cell increase as a biomarker of disease progression in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer patients with low baseline CTC counts. Ann Oncol 29, 1554-1560. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Phase II pilot study of the prednisone to dexamethasone switch in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients with limited progression on abiraterone plus prednisone (SWITCH study). Br J Cancer 119, 1052-1059. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Selection and monitoring of patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer for treatment with radium-223. Clin Transl Oncol 20, 676-686. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). SEOM clinical guidelines for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer (2017). Clin Transl Oncol 20, 57-68. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Patient-derived models of abiraterone and enzalutamide resistant prostate cancer reveal sensitivity to ribosome-directed therapy. Eur Urol 74, 562-572. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Prostate-specific antigen velocity in a prospective prostate cancer screening study of men with genetic predisposition. Br J Cancer 118, 266-276. CNIO Publication.
- (2018). Apalutamide Treatment and Metastasis-free Survival in Prostate Cancer. New Engl J Med 378, 1408-1418. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). DNA Repair in Prostate Cancer: Biology and Clinical Implications.. Eur Urol 71, 417-425. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). Professional Burnout in European Young Oncologists: Results of The European Society For Medical Oncology (ESMO) Young Oncologists Committee Burnout Survey.. Ann Oncol 28, 1590-1596. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). A novel capillary nano-immunoassay for assessing androgen receptor splice variant 7 in plasma. Correlation with CD133 antigen expression in circulating tumor cells. A pilot study in prostate cancer patients.. Clin Transl Oncol 19, 1350-1357. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). Ambiguity in a masculine world: Being a BRCA1/2 mutation carrier and a man with prostate cancer.. Psycho-Oncol 26, 1987-1993. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). The Contemporary Use of Radium-223 in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Clin Genitourin Cancer (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2017). Inherited mutations in DNA repair genes and cancer risk.. Curr Prob Cancer 41, 251-264. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). mTORC1-dependent AMD1 regulation sustains polyamine metabolism in prostate cancer.. Nature 547, 109-113. CNIO Publication.
- (2017). Somatic BRCA2 bi-allelic loss in the primary prostate cancer was associated to objective response to PARPi in a sporadic CRPC patient.. Ann Oncol 28, 1158-1159. CNIO Publication.
- (2016). Decline in Circulating Tumor Cell Count and Treatment Outcome in Advanced Prostate Cancer.. Eur Urol 70, 985-992. CNIO Publication.
- (2016). MicroRNA and gene co-expression networks characterize biological and clinical behavior of rhabdomyosarcomas.. Cancer Lett (in press). CNIO Publication.
- (2016). A first in man, dose-finding study of the mTORC1/mTORC2 inhibitor OSI-027 in patients with advanced solid malignancies.. Br J Cancer 114, 889-896. CNIO Publication.
- (2016). The PROFILE Feasibility Study: Targeted Screening of Men With a Family History of Prostate Cancer.. Oncologist 21, 716-722. CNIO Publication.
- (2016). Targeting DNA Repair: The Role of PARP Inhibition in the Treatment of Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.. Cancer J 22, 353-356. CNIO Publication.
- (2016). Impact of fusion gene status versus histology on risk-stratification for rhabdomyosarcoma: Retrospective analyses of patients on UK trials.. Pediatr Blood Cancer (in press). CNIO Publication.