Zhenfei Li

About Zhenfei Li

• While most men with prostate cancer initially respond well to androgen deprivation therapies (ADT) such as Zytiga®, some do not, and patients inevitably develop resistance to treatment. Recent research has identified a specific molecular interaction—conversion of Zytiga® into the metabolic product D4A—as an essential part of a patient’s positive clinical response.
• Dr. Zhenfei Li hypothesizes that D4A has potent anti-tumor activity against prostate cancer tumors and that the conversion rate of Zytiga® to D4A is a biomarker for predicting patient response to Zytiga® early during treatment.
• Establishing the clinical significance of D4A production in patients with CRPC will lead to potential identification of other steroidal metabolites of Zytiga®.
• Dr. Li’s research may provide the first instance of the metabolite of a medication (D4A) being used as a biomarker of patient response and may provide a rapid, non-invasive approach for determining effectiveness of treatment with Zytiga®.

What this means for patients: The presence of D4A in the blood or tissue of CRPC patients might predict response to Zytiga®. If successful, this project will lead to the identification of a predictive biomarker in a routine blood test that informs clinicians early in the treatment whether Zytiga® is inducing a long-term remission.