[China Tech] Local Experts Find New Prostate Cancer Target

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Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center researchers have found a new end-stage prostate cancer treatment target and achieved promising clinical results with an innovative antibody-drug combination.

Terminal prostate cancer patients who progress after multiple endocrine and chemotherapy lines have few treatment options and very dismal prognoses. Dr Ye Dingwei's team developed YL201, a first-in-class ADC targeting the novel biomarker B7H3, creating an innovative therapeutic pathway for refractory prostate cancer.

The Phase II YL201 study recruited 82 pretreated individuals. The innovative drug had a median progression-free survival of 11.8 months, a peak ORR of 33.3 percent at the optimal dose, and a 29.5 percent objective response rate.

At the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, Ye presented the groundbreaking urological oncology findings, with no severe pulmonary toxicity, highlighting its potential for end-stage patients.

"B7H3 carries great translational potential and offers a new survival opportunity for end-stage patients with exhausted treatment regimens," said Ye, who presented a suite of landmark urological oncology findings at the meeting.

Ye said his team made presentations on bladder and prostate cancer, two common, intractable urological cancers. ADCs, combination immunotherapy, enhanced surgical methods, first-line systemic treatments, and salvage regimens for multi-line resistant diseases were included in the trials.

To date, Ye's team has led over 100 multicenter clinical trials in urological cancer, with several boasting world-leading patient enrollment rates. The team's ongoing advances have propelled China's clinical oncology research from worldwide follow-up and parallel development to global leadership in frontier breakthroughs.

Domestically made ADC and immunotherapy were used in the team's pioneering chemo-free perioperative treatment for muscle-invasive bladder cancer at another ASCO presentation.

Among the 37 patients enrolled, 27 surgical cases had pathological full remission, suggesting strong preoperative tumor regression effectiveness. This chemo-free therapy has minimal side effects and does not interfere with future major surgery.

It creates a high-efficacy, organ-preserving perioperative treatment strategy for refractory bladder cancer, Ye said.