The ArteraAI prostate test is the first artificial-intelligence-enabled predictive and prognostic test for therapy personalisation to be recommended in US guidelines for localised prostate cancer.

You can read more about the test in this article announcing the launch.

Analysis of genomic data from localised prostate cancer reveals a divergent evolution, and tumours can be classified into “evotypes” according to the way they evolved. This is the finding of a study, published in Cell Genomics, where researchers used artificial intelligence to study changes in the DNA of prostate cancer samples from 159 patients. They identified two distinct cancer groups: the canonical and alternative evolutionary disease types.

Read the article here.

Delegates from our member organisations have become a”clinical trial ambassadors” by following an online training programme. A clinical trial ambassador is always a member of a registered patient organisation and educated about clinical research.

We have asked our ambassadors to give some comments:

• Ib Groth Clausen from PROPA, Denmark: “I am excited to have finished the clear and efficient clinical ambassador training course. Now I am offering my clinical research knowledge to other prostate cancer patients in Denmark, and I hope to resolve many of the questions they may have when deciding whether or not to participate in clinical studies.”
• Eriks Mikelsteins from the Latvian Prostate Cancer Association: “I found the course to be insightful with enough information to give you a good working base as a clinical ambasador. It will improve my knowledge as a patient advocate.”
• Kees Vos from the Prostaatkankerstichting, The Netherlands: “The clinical trial ambassador training gave me a comprehensive overview of the set up of clinical trials, with a focus on the patient perspective. I hope I can from now answer that questions that patients with prostate cancer have.”
• Claudio Talmelli from Europa Uomo Onlus Italia: “I really liked the topics covered during the study sessions. I have a pharmaceutical background and these subjects are also part of my technical preparation and I had no difficulty in following the in-depth details on the clinical trials and all the parameters that are part of them. I was the first Italian to obtain the title of clinical trial ambassador, but no one has ever called me to be part of any study and research team about prostate cancer (which interests me the most). Ultimately, patients and patient associations are receiving much more attention in this field. On the other hand, doctors and researchers have not yet fully understood the importance of having patients participate in the design of scientific studird. This aspect should be more widely disseminated so that in the near future every clinical trial can take advantage of this valuable collaboration.”

Tania Estapé and Cosimo Pieri, Europa Uomo board members, are in charge of organising webinars for Europa Uomo. The webinars have not always been well attended,  so the launched a brief survey to find out about the barriers to attending webinars and topics that might be of interest.

You can read the outcome here.

If you have a topic that you want to see handled in a webinar, please send an email to the Europa Uomo secretariat.

Active Surveillance Patients International’s next webinar, on “The ABCs of BPH”, will be held from 5pm to 6pm CET on Saturday March 30th.

The programme will feature a video by Casey Dauw, Chief of the Endourology Division and Urology Associate Professor at the University of Michigan. ASPI board members will share their personal experiences with benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) followed by audience discussion.

Register here.

We have learned about two platforms to look for clinical trials.

The European Clinical Trials Information Network revolutionises how patients across Europe access clinical trial information. This platform offers comprehensive details on studies, eligibility and locations in patient-friendly language to ease the search process and connect patients with potential treatments.

The European Medicines Agency has announced that, as of 31st January 2023, all initial clinical trial applications in the EU/EEA must be submitted through the Clinical Trials Information System. This website supports the running of clinical trials for human medicines in the European Union  and European Economic Area.

Easter is a time of

love, family and peace.

It is a time when we say a quite thanks

for all that we have

and for all that the future holds.