"Next-generation sequencing, or NGS, can be used to help us determine if the patient has specific biomarkers we can identify and use to target for treatment. Certain findings can tell us if a particular treatment might work for that patient, and we can see if there are any genetic variants we might have a biomarker targeted agent to use to treat them with," ONS member Jackie Peterson, MSN, RN, OCN®, NE-BC, MBA, ambulatory nurse manager at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Illinois, told Lenise Taylor, MN, RN, AOCNS®, BMTCN®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about prostate cancer and biomarker testing.

This podcast is sponsored by AstraZeneca and is not eligible for NCPD contact hours. ONS is solely responsible for the criteria, objectives, content, quality, and scientific integrity of its programs and publications.

Music Credit: "Fireflies and Stardust" by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Episode Notes

• This episode is not eligible for NCPD.
• ONS Podcast™ episodes:
  • Episode 324: Pharmacology 101: LHRH Antagonists and Agonists
  • Episode 321: Pharmacology 101: CYP17 Inhibitors
  • Episode 180: Learn How Nurse Practitioners Use Biomarker Testing in Cancer Care
• ONS Voice articles:
  • An Oncology Nurse's Guide to Cascade Testing
  • Genetic Disorder Reference Sheet: BRCA1 and BRCA2 Hereditary Disorders
  • Genetic Disorder Reference Sheet: Lynch Syndrome (Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer)
  • Germline and Somatic Variants: What Is the Difference?
  • Help Patients Understand Genomic Variants of Unknown Significance
  • Prostate Cancer Clinical Trials Don't Reflect Racial Diversity—And It's Getting Worse Over Time
  • Prostate Cancer Disparities Disappear With Equal Access to Care
  • Prostate Cancer Prevention, Screening, Treatment, and Survivorship Recommendations
  • The Case of the Genomics-Guided Care for Prostate Cancer
• ONS book: Understanding Genomic and Hereditary Cancer Risk: A Handbook for Oncology Nurses
• ONS course: Genomic Foundations for Precision Oncology
• Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing articles:
  • Metastatic Prostate Cancer: An Update on Treatments and a Review of Patient Symptom Management
  • Prostate Cancer: How Nurse Practicioners Can Aid in Disease Diagnosis and Management
• Oncology Nursing Forum article: Identification of Symptom Profiles in Prostate Cancer Survivors
• Other ONS Resources:
  • Biomarker Database (refine by prostate cancer or specific biomarkers)
  • Clinical tool/case study: Biomarker Testing in Prostate Cancer: The Role of the Oncology Nurse
  • Genomics and Precision Oncology Learning Library
  • Huddle Card: Genomic Biomarkers
  • Infographic: Talking to Your Patient About a Germline Variant of Uncertain Significance (VUS)
• American Cancer Society - Genetic Testing and Counseling for Prostate Cancer Risk
• American Cancer Society - Prostate Cancer
• Clinicaltrials.gov
• National Cancer Institute - Prostate Cancer
• National Comprehensive Cancer Network
• ZERO Prostate Cancer

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To find resources for creating an ONS Podcast club in your chapter or nursing community, visit the ONS Podcast Library.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email [email protected].

Highlights From This Episode

"Some of the risk factors for developing prostate cancer include age, race, family history, and certain genetic changes or variants. Prostate cancer has some hereditary components, but most prostate cancer occurs in men without any significant family history of it." TS 1:31

"Key biomarkers include PSA and prostate cancer gene 3, which is PCA3, and prostate-specific membrane antigen, or PSMA. Other biomarkers that are important for us to test include BRCA1, BRCA2, and Lynch syndrome–associated genes, which are MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, and EPCAM. Biomarkers can be collected via your blood, urine, saliva, or tissue samples, so these are different ways that we can test and look for biomarkers in our patients." TS 3:24

"It does matter how advanced the disease is. Usually, for our castrate-sensitive patients, they respond better to androgen deprivation therapy because that really is slowing down the growth of the cancer by reducing the available testosterone that the cancer needs to grow. Whereas our patients that are more advanced and have castrate-resistant prostate cancer, that cancer will continue to grow despite having the lowered testosterone levels, so they might need additional layers of treatment to really get their cancer under control." TS 7:50

"When I talk to [patients] about biomarker testing, I tell them it's another tool in our toolbox that we can use to help us determine if they might benefit from other therapy options now or in the future. I tell them that sometimes we'll get a report back with a variant of unknown significance, and basically that means that we don't really know whether or not this has an impact on their health or risk factors for the disease. That can sometimes be a little bit of a concern for these patients, so we just have to reassure them that we're continually doing research around biomarker testing. The science is always advancing, so if there's something that [researchers] find in the future, we'll make them aware of that." TS 9:08

"One of the biggest topics I think about is the inequity that exists in biomarker testing and research, especially surrounding the African American population. When these tests were developed, that population really wasn't studied as much, so there's not a lot of good data yet to make a decision or impact on those patients and that population." TS: 12:30