Prostate Cancer Clinical Research Unit

Vacant Director

Clinical Investigator

Daniel Alameda
Elena Castro

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosis in men and, despite its potential to be cured in almost 90% of early stages, its metastatic spread causes about 6,000 deaths every year in Spain alone, whilst in the US over 30,000 men succumb to the disease each year.

During the last few years, our Group has focused precisely on the development of new methods to identify and treat the most aggressive and lethal forms of prostate cancer, in order to accelerate precision medicine for the disease. In particular, over the last 8 years, our group has made significant contributions in:

Establishing and developing several biomarkers based on the concept of liquid biopsy.
Understanding the implication of gene alterations leading to DNA repair deficiency in this disease.
Developing new treatments for prostate cancer.

Our work has been widely recognised with several highly cited publications in top journals in our field, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet Oncology, The Journal of Clinical Oncology, European Urology, Annals of Oncology, and many others.

Publications

Sweeney C, Bracarda S, Sternberg CN, Chi KN, Olmos D, Sandhu S, Massard C, Matsubara N, Alekseev B, Parnis F, Atduev V, Buchschacher GL Jr, Gafanov R, Corrales L, Borre M, Stroyakovskiy D, Alves GV, Bournakis E, Puente J, Harle-Yge ML, Gallo J, Chen G, Hanover J, Wongchenko MJ, Garcia J, de Bono JS. (2021). Ipatasertib plus abiraterone and prednisolone in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (IPATential150): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, phase 3 trial. Lancet 398, 131-142. CNIO Publication.
Lorente D, Llacer C, Lozano R, de Velasco G, Romero-Laorden N, Rodrigo M, Sánchez-Iglesias Á, di Capua C, Castro E, Ferrer C, Sánchez-Hernández A, Olmos D. (2021). Prognostic Score and Benefit from Abiraterone in First-line Metastatic, Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol 80, 641-649. CNIO Publication. Open Access
Smith MR, Saad F, Chowdhury S, Oudard S, Hadaschik BA, Graff JN, Olmos D, Mainwaring PN, Lee JY, Uemura H, De Porre P, Smith AA, Brookman-May SD, Li S, Zhang K, Rooney B, Lopez-Gitlitz A, Small EJ (2021). Apalutamide and Overall Survival in Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol 79, 150-158. CNIO Publication.
Smith MR, Thomas S, Gormley M, Chowdhury S, Olmos D, Oudard S, Feng FY, Rajpurohit Y, Urtishak K, Ricci DS, Rooney B, Lopez-Gitlitz A, Yu M, Wyatt AW, Li M, Attard G, Small EJ. (2021). Blood Biomarker Landscape in Patients with High-risk Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Treated with Apalutamide and Androgen-Deprivation Therapy as They Progress to Metastatic Disease. Clin Cancer Res 27, 4539-4548. CNIO Publication.
Lozano R, Castro E, Aragón IM, Cendón Y, Cattrini C, López-Casas PP, Olmos D (2021). Genetic aberrations in DNA repair pathways: a cornerstone of precision oncology in prostate cancer. Br J Cancer 124, 552-563. CNIO Publication.
Lozano R, Lorente D, Aragon IM, Romero-Laorden N, Nombela P, Mateo J, Reid AHM, Cendón Y, Bianchini D, Llacer C, Sandhu SK, Sharp A, Rescigno P, Garcés T, Pacheco MI, Flohr P, Massard C, López-Casas PP, Castro E, de Bono JS, Olmos D. (2021). Value of Early Circulating Tumor Cells Dynamics to Estimate Docetaxel Benefit in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer (mCRPC) Patients. Cancers 13, 2334. CNIO Publication.
Sokolova AO, Marshall CH, Lozano R, Gulati R, Ledet EM, De Sarkar N, Grivas P, Higano CS, Montgomery B, Nelson PS, Olmos D, Sokolov V, Schweizer MT, Yezefski TA, Yu EY, Paller CJ, Sartor O, Castro E, Antonarakis ES, Cheng HH (2021). Efficacy of systemic therapies in men with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer harboring germline ATM versus BRCA2 mutations. Prostate 81, 1382-1389. CNIO Publication.
Oliva L, Lozano R, Llácer C, Aragón I, Pajares BI, Sáez MI, Herrera-Imbroda B, Montesa A, Hernández D, Villatoro R, Otero A, Correa R, Grau G, Peinado P, Pacheco MI, García-Galisteo E, Rueda A, Machuca FJ, Alba E, Márquez-Aragonés A, Olmos D, Castro E. (2021). Risk Prediction Tools Available for Germline BRCA1/2 Mutations Underperform in Prostate Cancer Patients. Eur Urol Oncol 4, 315-318. CNIO Publication.
de Bono J, Mateo J, Fizazi K, Saad F, Shore N, Sandhu S, Chi KN, Sartor O, Agarwal N, Olmos D, Thiery-Vuillemin A, Twardowski P, Mehra N, Goessl C, Kang J, Burgents J, Wu W, Kohlmann A, Adelman CA, Hussain M. (2020). Olaparib for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.. New Engl J Med 382, 2091-2102. CNIO Publication.
Hussain M, Mateo J, Fizazi K, Saad F, Shore N, Sandhu S, Chi KN, Sartor O, Agarwal N, Olmos D, Thiery-Vuillemin A, Twardowski P, Roubaud G, Özgüroglu M, Kang J, Burgents J, Gresty C, Corcoran C, Adelman CA, de Bono J; PROfound Trial Investigators (2020). Survival with Olaparib in Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer. New Engl J Med 383, 2345-2357. CNIO Publication.
Khalaf DJ, Aragón IM, Annala M, Lozano R, Taavitsainen S, Lorente D, Finch DL, Romero-Laorden N, Vergidis J, Cendón Y, Oja C, Pacheco MI, Zulfiqar M; PROREPAIR-B investigators, Gleave ME, Wyatt AW, Olmos D, Chi KN, Castro E (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.
Lorente D, Castro E, Lozano R, Puente J, Romero-Laorden N, Rodríguez-Vida A, Lainez N, Villatoro R, Llácer C, Cattrini C, Hernández A, Domenech M, Zambrana F, Almagro E, Luque R, Martinez E, López-Campos F, Gonzalez B, Méndez-Vidal MJ, Medina A, Piulats JM, Olmos D; PROREPAIR-B Study Investigators. (2020). Association Between Second Progression-free Survival (PFS2) and Overall Survival in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol 77, 763-766. CNIO Publication.
Perez-Ruixo C, Ackaert O, Ouellet D, Chien C, Uemura H, Olmos D, Mainwaring P, Lee JY, Yu MK, Perez-Ruixo JJ, Smith MR, Small EJ (2020). Efficacy and Safety Exposure-Response Relationships of Apalutamide in Patients with Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer.. Clin Cancer Res 26, 4460-4467. CNIO Publication.
Lozano R, Castro E, Aragón IM, Cendón Y, Cattrini C, López-Casas PP, Olmos D (2020). Genetic aberrations in DNA repair pathways: a cornerstone of precision oncology in prostate cancer. Br J Cancer 124, 552-563. CNIO Publication.
Cattrini C, Soldato D, Rubagotti A, Zinoli L, Zanardi E, Barboro P, Messina C, Castro E, Olmos D, Boccardo F (2020). Epidemiological Characteristics and Survival in Patients with De Novo Metastatic Prostate Cancer. Cancers 12, 2855. CNIO Publication.
Messina C, Cattrini C, Soldato D, Vallome G, Caffo O, Castro E, Olmos D, Boccardo F, Zanardi E (2020). BRCA Mutations in Prostate Cancer: Prognostic and Predictive Implications. Journal of Oncology 0, 4986365. CNIO Publication.
Correa R , Navarro M , Lobato M , Otero A , Jerez I , Rico JM , Zapata I , Lupiañez Y , Medina JA, Olmos D, Gómez-Millán J (2020). Influence of the Technique and Comorbidities in Hypofractionated Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer. Clin Transl Oncol 22, 311-318. CNIO Publication.
Rescigno P, Dolling D, Conteduca V, Rediti M, Bianchini D, Lolli C, Ong M, Li H, Omlin AG, Schmid S, Caffo O, Zivi A, Pezaro CJ, Morley C, Olmos D, Romero-Laorden N, Castro E, Saez MI, Mehra N, Smeenk S, Sideris S, Gil T, Banks P, Sandhu SK, Sternberg CN, De Giorgi U, De Bono JS. (2020). Early Post-treatment Prostate-specific Antigen at 4 Weeks and Abiraterone and Enzalutamide Treatment for Advanced Prostate Cancer: An International Collaborative Analysis.. Eur Urol Oncol 3, 176-182. CNIO Publication.
Castro E, Romero-Laorden N, Del Pozo A, Lozano R, Medina A, Puente J, Piulats JM, Lorente D, Saez MI, Morales-Barrera R, Gonzalez-Billalabeitia E, Cendón Y, García-Carbonero I, Borrega P, Mendez Vidal MJ, Montesa A, Nombela P, Fernández-Parra E, Gonzalez Del Alba A, Villa-Guzmán JC, Ibáñez K, Rodriguez-Vida A, Magraner-Pardo L, Perez-Valderrama B, Vallespín E, Gallardo E, Vazquez S, Pritchard CC, Lapunzina P, Olmos D (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.
Small EJ, Saad F, Chowdhury S, Oudard S, Hadaschik BA, Graff JN, Olmos D, Mainwaring PN, Lee JY, Uemura H, De Porre P, Smith AA, Zhang K, Lopez-Gitlitz A, Smith MR (2019). Apalutamide and overall survival in non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Ann Oncol 30, 1813-1820. CNIO Publication.
Conteduca V, Jayaram A, Romero-Laorden N, Wetterskog D, Salvi S, Gurioli G, Scarpi E, Castro E, Marin-Aguilera M, Lolli C, Schepisi G, Maugeri A, Wingate A, Farolfi A, Casadio V, Medina A, Puente J, Vidal MJM, Morales-Barrera R, Villa-Guzmán JC, Hernando S, Rodriguez-Vida A, González-Del-Alba A, Mellado B, Gonzalez-Billalabeitia E, Olmos D, Attard G, De Giorgi U (2019). Plasma Androgen Receptor and Docetaxel for Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Eur Urol 75, 368-373. CNIO Publication.
Cattrini C, Castro E, Lozano R, Zanardi E, Rubagotti A, Boccardo F, Olmos D (2019). Current Treatment Options for Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer. Cancers 11, E1355. CNIO Publication. Open Access
Nombela P, Lozano R, Aytes A, Mateo J, Olmos D, Castro E (2019). BRCA2 and Other DDR Genes in Prostate Cancer. Cancers 11, E352. CNIO Publication. Open Access
Lozano R, Almagro E, Castro E (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.
Naldaiz-Gastesi N, Goicoechea M, Aragón IM, Pérez-López V, Fuertes-Alvarez S, Herrera-Imbroda B, López de Munain A, de Luna-Diaz R, Baptista PM, Fernández MA, Lara MF, Izeta A (2019). Isolation and characterization of myogenic precursor cells from human cremaster muscle. Sci. Reports 9, 3454. CNIO Publication. Open Access
Oliva L, Lozano R, Llácer C, Aragón I, Pajares BI, Sáez MI, Herrera-Imbroda B, Montesa A, Hernández D, Villatoro R, Otero A, Correa R, Grau G, Peinado P, Pacheco MI, García-Galisteo E, Rueda A, Machuca FJ, Alba E, Márquez-Aragonés A, Olmos D, Castro E (2019). Risk Prediction Tools Available for Germline BRCA1/2 Mutations Underperform in Prostate Cancer Patients.. Eur Urol Oncol (in press). CNIO Publication.
Lorente D, Olmos D, Mateo J, Dolling D, Bianchini D, Seed G, Flohr P, Crespo M, Figueiredo I, Miranda S, Scher HI, Terstappen LWMM, de Bono JS. (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.
Smith MR, Saad F, Chowdhury S, Oudard S, Hadaschik BA, Graff JN, Olmos D, Mainwaring PN, Lee JY, Uemura H, Lopez-Gitlitz A, Trudel GC, Espina BM, Shu Y, Park YC, Rackoff WR, Yu MK, Small EJ; SPARTAN Investigators (2018). Apalutamide Treatment and Metastasis-free Survival in Prostate Cancer. New Engl J Med 378, 1408-1418. CNIO Publication.
Lawrence MG, Obinata D, Sandhu S, Selth LA, Wong SQ, Porter LH, Lister N, Pook D, Pezaro CJ, Goode DL, Rebello RJ, Clark AK, Papargiris M, Van Gramberg J, Hanson AR, Banks P, Wang H, Niranjan B, Keerthikumar S, Hedwards S, Huglo A, Yang R, Henzler C, Li Y, Lopez-Campos F, Castro E, Toivanen R, Azad A, Bolton D, Goad J, Grummet J, Harewood L, Kourambas J, Lawrentschuk N, Moon D, Murphy DG, Sengupta S, Snow R, Thorne H, Mitchell C, Pedersen J, Clouston D, Norden S, Ryan A, Dehm SM, Tilley WD, Pearson RB, Hannan RD, Frydenberg M, Furic L, Taylor RA, Risbridger GP (2018). Patient-derived models of abiraterone and enzalutamide resistant prostate cancer reveal sensitivity to ribosome-directed therapy. Eur Urol 74, 562-572. CNIO Publication.
Lorente D, Olmos D, Mateo J, Dolling D, Bianchini D, Seed G, Flohr P, Crespo M, Figueiredo I, Miranda S, Scher HI, Terstappen LWMM, de Bono JS (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.
Mikropoulos C, Selkirk CGH, Saya S, Bancroft E, Vertosick E, Dadaev T, Brendler C, Page E, Dias A, Evans DG, Rothwell J, Maehle L, Axcrona K, Richardson K, Eccles D, Jensen T, Osther PJ, van Asperen CJ, Vasen H, Kiemeney LA, Ringelberg J, Cybulski C, Wokolorczyk D, Hart R, Glover W, Lam J, Taylor L, Salinas M, Feliubadaló L, Oldenburg R, Cremers R, Verhaegh G, van Zelst-Stams WA, Oosterwijk JC, Cook J, Rosario DJ, Buys SS, Conner T, Domchek S, Powers J, Ausems MG, Teixeira MR, Maia S, Izatt L, Schmutzler R, Rhiem K, Foulkes WD, Boshari T, Davidson R, Ruijs M, Helderman-van den Enden AT, Andrews L, Walker L, Snape K, Henderson A, Jobson I, Lindeman GJ, Liljegren A, Harris M, Adank MA, Kirk J, Taylor A, Susman R, Chen-Shtoyerman R, Pachter N, Spigelman A, Side L, Zgajnar J, Mora J, Brewer C, Gadea N, Brady AF, Gallagher D, van Os T, Donaldson A, Stefansdottir V, Barwell J, James PA, Murphy D, Friedman E, Nicolai N, Greenhalgh L, Obeid E, Murthy V, Copakova L, McGrath J, Teo SH, Strom S, Kast K, Leongamornlert DA, Chamberlain A, Pope J, Newlin AC, Aaronson N, Ardern-Jones A, Bangma C, Castro E, Dearnaley D, Eyfjord J, Falconer A, Foster CS, Gronberg H, Hamdy FC, Johannsson O, Khoo V, Lubinski J, Grindedal EM, McKinley J, Shackleton K, Mitra AV, Moynihan C, Rennert G, Suri M, Tricker K; IMPACT study collaborators, Moss S, Kote-Jarai Z, Vickers A, Lilja H, Helfand BT, Eeles RA (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.
Romero-Laorden N, Lozano R, Jayaram A, López-Campos F, Saez MI, Montesa A, Gutierrez-Pecharoman A, Villatoro R, Herrera B, Correa R, Rosero A, Pacheco MI, Garcés T, Cendón Y, Nombela MP, Van de Poll F, Grau G, Rivera L, López PP, Cruz JJ, Lorente D, Attard G, Castro E, Olmos D (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.
Cassinello J, Arranz JÁ, Piulats JM, Sánchez A, Pérez-Valderrama B, Mellado B, Climent MÁ, Olmos D, Carles J, Lázaro M (2018). SEOM clinical guidelines for the treatment of metastatic prostate cancer (2017). Clin Transl Oncol 20, 57-68. CNIO Publication.
Rodriguez-Vida A, Torregrosa MD, Pinto Á, Climent MÁ, Olmos D, Carles J (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.
Zabala-Letona A, Arruabarrena-Aristorena A, Martín-Martín N, Fernandez-Ruiz S, Sutherland JD, Clasquin M, Tomas-Cortazar J, Jimenez J, Torres I, Quang P, Ximenez-Embun P, Bago R, Ugalde-Olano A, Loizaga-Iriarte A, Lacasa-Viscasillas I, Unda M, Torrano V, Cabrera D, van Liempd SM, Cendon Y, Castro E, Murray S, Revandkar A, Alimonti A, Zhang Y, Barnett A, Lein G, Pirman D, Cortazar AR, Arreal L, Prudkin L, Astobiza I, Valcarcel-Jimenez L, Zuñiga-García P, Fernandez-Dominguez I, Piva M, Caro-Maldonado A, Sánchez-Mosquera P, Castillo-Martín M, Serra V, Beraza N, Gentilella A, Thomas G, Azkargorta M, Elortza F, Farràs R, Olmos D, Efeyan A, Anguita J, Muñoz J, Falcón-Pérez JM, Barrio R, Macarulla T, Mato JM, Martinez-Chantar ML, Cordon-Cardo C, Aransay AM, Marks K, Baselga J, Tabernero J, Nuciforo P, Manning BD, Marjon K, Carracedo A (2017). mTORC1-dependent AMD1 regulation sustains polyamine metabolism in prostate cancer. Nature 547, 109-113. CNIO Publication.
Banerjee S, Califano R, Corral J, de Azambuja E, De Mattos-Arruda L, Guarneri V, Hutka M, Jordan K, Martinelli E, Mountzios G, Ozturk MA, Petrova M, Postel-Vinay S, Preusser M, Qvortrup C, Volkov MNM, Tabernero J, Olmos D, Strijbos MH (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.
Mateo J, Boysen G, Barbieri CE, Bryant HE, Castro E, Nelson PS, Olmos D, Pritchard CC, Rubin MA, de Bono JS (2017). DNA Repair in Prostate Cancer: Biology and Clinical Implications. Eur Urol 71, 417-425. CNIO Publication.
Romero-Laorden N, Piñeiro-Yañez E, Gutierrez-Pecharroman A, Pacheco MI, Calvo E, Al-Shahrour F, Castro E, Olmos D (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.
Missiaglia E, Shepherd CJ, Aladowicz E, Olmos D, Selfe J, Pierron G, Delattre O, Walters Z, Shipley J (2017). MicroRNA and gene co-expression networks characterize biological and clinical behavior of rhabdomyosarcomas. Cancer Lett 385, 251-260. CNIO Publication.
Moynihan C, Bancroft EK, Mitra A, Ardern-Jones A, Castro E, Page EC, Eeles RA (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.
Romero-Laorden N, Castro E (2017). Inherited mutations in DNA repair genes and cancer risk. Curr Prob Cancer 41, 251-264. CNIO Publication.
García JL, Lozano R, Misiewicz-Krzeminska I, Fernández-Mateos J, Krzeminski P, Alfonso S, Marcos RA, García R, Gómez-Veiga F, Virseda Á, Herrero M, Olmos D, Cruz-Hernández JJ (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.
Heinrich D, Bektic J, Bergman AM, Caffo O, Cathomas R, Chi KN, Daugaard G, Keizman D, Kindblom J, Kramer G, Olmos D, Omlin A, Sridhar SS, Tucci M, van Oort I, Nilsson S (2017). The Contemporary Use of Radium-223 in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer. Clin Genitourin Cancer (in press). CNIO Publication.
Selfe J, Olmos D, Al-Saadi R, Thway K, Chisholm J, Kelsey A, Shipley J (2017). Impact of fusion gene status versus histology on risk-stratification for rhabdomyosarcoma: Retrospective analyses of patients on UK trials. Pediatr Blood Cancer 64, e26386. CNIO Publication.