New programme to close the gap for Black men with prostate cancer

Prostate Cancer Research has today announced the launch of their first round of research projects which will tackle the inequities in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of the UK’s most commonly diagnosed cancer. The charity has committed to funding at least three rounds of targeted projects which will explore solutions to the racial disparity within prostate cancer over the next three years, as part of a broader health inequities programme which also focuses on health literacy and data.

Black men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as White men, two and a half times more likely to die of the disease, and are likely to be diagnosed at a younger age. They may also be more likely to face delayed referrals, and be offered less aggressive cancer treatments even though they are more likely to have more aggressive tumours. “In light of how little was being done about this problem, in the face of the need, we took the decision to target our funding towards one of the areas it is most needed – closing the gaps between Black and White men,” Dr Naomi Elster, Director of Research at Prostate Cancer Research said.

The five projects announced today, funded to a total of £875,000 will take place at the University of East Anglia, University of Sunderland, University of Essex, University College London, and Harvard University. Cutting-edge biology techniques will be used to investigate reasons Black men are more likely to get prostate cancer, and potential ways to screen for men at high risk. Social science approaches will explore the barriers the Black community faces to early diagnosis, and NHS datasets will be mined to uncover whether people from different ethnic groups are more or less likely to stick with certain cancer treatments.

These projects form part of Prostate Cancer Research’s overarching Health Inequities Programme, which focuses on three key challenges of racial differences, low health literacy, and lack of representation in the data used to make decisions about new treatments and diagnostics.

Almost half of the UK’s population are thought to have low health literacy, which can lead to their needs being hidden, less effective communication with healthcare practitioners, and is linked to increased visits to A&E, increased treatment regret, and more risk of death. With the support of the National Lottery Community Fund, Prostate Cancer Research are developing The Infopool, a digital platform to empower people living with prostate cancer to make more informed decisions.

The charity also recently launched a pledge campaign, headed by Stephen Fry, inviting prostate cancer patients to voluntarily donate their data to a first-of-its-kind prostate cancer registry in the UK, which would capture patient experiences and use these to develop better treatments and diagnostics.

Prostate Cancer Research are a research and patient information and education charity focused on delivering breakthrough medicines and treatments for prostate cancer, particularly in the advanced stages of the disease. They have quintupled their research portfolio over the past 4 years, came through the coronavirus crisis without cutting a single research budget, and have been shortlisted for an impact award for their patient engagement work. They use their deep understanding of both patient priorities and the research ecosystem to direct their funding where it will have the most impact.

Professor Dmitry Pshezhetskiy and Dr Matt Winkler at the University of East Anglia are developing a PCR test, like those used to test for Covid, which could detect prostate cancer in Black men more accurately in the blood than a PSA test.

Dr Floor Christie-de Jong at the University of Sunderland will work with community members in Scotland and the northeast to delve into the reasons that Black men don’t seek help early, and develop, test and refine tactics to tackle this in partnership with the community.

Dr Greg Brooke and Dr Antonio Marco at the University of Essex will investigate a specific DNA code that exists in about 50% of Black men and which is rare in other ethnicities.  This code appears to regulate androgen receptor levels, a key protein in prostate cancer. The project will look for additional DNA code differences between ethnicities, which could be linked to a higher risk of prostate cancer.

Professor Robert Horne and Dr Jonathan Shamash at University College London will analyse NHS records to see if men from different ethnicities are more or less likely to choose and continue different treatments. They will also work with patients to uncover what stops men from continuing with treatment and how they could be better supported.

Dr Hari Iyer and Professor Timothy Rebbeck at Harvard University are looking at how our neighbourhood affects our ability to access healthcare. Evidence from this project will be useful to influence policy on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Health Inequities Programme has three strands: research into racial disparities, improving health literacy, and joining the dots on data. These three arms aim to build solutions to three key challenges: the disproportionate impact of prostate cancer on the Black community, the low health literacy affecting almost half of the UK’s population, which is linked to worse health outcomes, and existing data being overwhelmingly drawn from studies of White men. Researchers based in the UK or US were invited to apply for up to £300,000 for a duration of 1 – 3 years and were selected based on review by scientific experts and Black patients and their families. The Infopool aims to empower people living with prostate cancer to become better informed and have more effective conversations with thei8r healthcare teams by co-creating simplified and visually-focused information in collaboration with patient and clinical advisors. The prostate cancer registry provides patients from all backgrounds with the opportunity to donate their data to a centralised registry so that their experiences can be used to better inform the development of new treatments and diagnostics. Over 1,800 patients, including Stephen Fry, pledged to take part in the first few weeks of its launch.

For further information, please contact:

Kath Coleman

Research Communications Officer

[email protected]