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Male Urogenital Cancers

Why we focus on Male Urogenital Cancers

Cancers of the prostate, testis, penis, kidney and bladder account for over 16% of all new cases of cancer and collectively are slightly more common than breast cancer. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men and testicular cancer the most common tumour in young men between the ages of 15 and 35 years. Despite high five year survival rates for testicular (97%) and prostate (80%) cancer, collectively these malignancies account for almost 12% of cancer deaths. Therefore, it remains important to improve our knowledge of the biology of these diseases, and so identify targets for new and novel therapies, particularly for chemoresistance.

What we do

  • Establish and maintain a male urogenital cancer tissue bank.
  • Identify critical genes in testicular tumour cisplatin‑resistance using genome-wide analysis.
  • Identify key biomarkers in penile cancer and investigate the  role of HPV in its development.
  • Focus on resistance mechanisms to targeted therapies used to treat renal cancer.
  • Investigate in vitro and in vivo the therapeutic potential and resistance mechanisms of HER 1-4, FGF-2 and Src-targeted therapy in bladder and renal cancer, and the role of ASS1.
  • Run clinical trials for optimised chemotherapy of testicular tumours.
  • Run translational clinical trials investigating novel targeted and immune therapies.
  • Run clinical trials for new treatments for bladder and renal cancer.

Key Publications

  • Kayani et al. Sequential FDG-PET/CT as a biomarker of response to Sunitinib in metastatic clear cell renal cancer. Clin Cancer Res 2011; 17: 6021-8.
  • Lorch et al. Conventional-dose versus high-dose chemotherapy as first salvage treatment in male patients with metastatic germ cell tumors: evidence from a large international database. J Clin Oncol 2011; 29: 2178-84.
  • Welti et al. Fibroblast growth factor 2 regulates endothelial cell sensitivity to sunitinib. Oncogene 2011; 30: 1183-93.
  • Gerlinger et al. Elevated LDH predicts poor outcome of recurrent germ cell tumours treated with dose dense chemotherapy. Eur J Cancer. 2010; 46(16): 2913-8.
  • Noel EE et al. The association of CCND1 overexpression and cisplatin resistance in testicular germ cell tumors and other cancers. Am J Path 2010; 176: 2607-15.
  • Delage et al. Arginine deprivation and argininosuccinate synthetase expression in the treatment of cancer. Int J Cancer 2010; 126: 2762-72.

Who does the research

→ Click here for BCI senior researchers working on male urogenital cancers.

Major Funders

  • Orchid
  • Association for International Cancer Research
  • Cancer Research UK
  • GlaxoSmithKline
  • MRC
  • Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd