Université Catholique de Lille

Using a specialized device that translates images into sound, neuroscientists showed that people who are blind recognized basic faces using the part of the brain known as the fusiform face area, a region that is crucial for the processing of faces in sighted people. Using a specialized device that translates images into sound, Georgetown University Medical Center neuroscientists and colleagues showed that people who are blind recognized basic faces using the part of the brain known as the fusiform face area, a region that is crucial for the processing of faces in sighted people. The findings appeared in PLOS ONE on November 22, 2023. "It's been known for some time that people who are blind can compensate for their loss of vision, to a certain extent, by using their other senses," says Josef Rauschecker, Ph.D., D.Sc., professor in the Department of Neuroscience at Georgetown University and senior author of this study. "Our study tested the extent to which this plasticity, or compensation, between seeing and hearing exists by encoding basic visual patterns into auditory patterns with the aid of a technical device we refer to as a sensory substitution device. With the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we can determine where in the brain this compensatory plasticity is taking place." Face perception in humans and nonhuman primates is accomplished by a patchwork of specialized cortical regions. How these regions develop has remained controversial. Due to their importance for social behavior, many researchers believe that the neural mechanisms for face recognition are innate in primates or depend on early visual experience with faces. "Our results from people who are blind implies that fusiform face area development does not depend on experience with actual visual faces but on exposure to the geometry of facial configurations, which can be conveyed by other sensory modalities," Rauschecker adds. Paula Plaza, Ph.D., one of the lead authors of the study, who is now at Universidad Andres Bello, Chile, says, "Our study demonstrates that the fusiform face area encodes the 'concept' of a face regardless of input channel, or the visual experience, which is an important discovery." Six people who are blind and 10 sighted people, who served as control subjects, went through three rounds of functional MRI scans to see what parts of the brain were being activated during the translations from image into sound. The scientists found that brain activation by sound in people who are blind was found primarily in the left fusiform face area while face processing in sighted people occurred mostly in the right fusiform face area. "We believe the left/right difference between people who are and aren't blind may have to do with how the left and right sides of the fusiform area processes faces -- either as connected patterns or as separate parts, which may be an important clue in helping us refine our sensory substitution device," says Rauschecker, who is also co-director of the Center for Neuroengineering at Georgetown University. Currently, with their device, people who are blind can recognize a basic 'cartoon' face (such as an emoji happy face) when it is transcribed into sound patterns. Recognizing faces via sounds was a time-intensive process that took many practice sessions. Each session started with getting people to recognize simple geometrical shapes, such as horizontal and vertical lines; complexity of the stimuli was then gradually increased, so the lines formed shapes, such as houses or faces, which then became even more complex (tall versus wide houses and happy faces versus sad faces). Ultimately, the scientists would like to use pictures of real faces and houses in combination with their device, but the researchers note that they would first have to greatly increase the resolution of the device. "We would love to be able to find out whether it is possible for people who are blind to learn to recognize individuals from their pictures. This may need a lot more practice with our device but now that we've pinpointed the region of the brain where the translation is taking place, we may have a better handle on how to fine-tune our processes," Rauschecker concludes. In addition to Rauschecker, the other authors at Georgetown University are Laurent Renier and Stephanie Rosemann. Anne G. De Volder, who passed away while this manuscript was in preparation, was at the Neural Rehabilitation Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium. This work was supported by a grant from the National Eye Institute (#R01 EY018923).

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency has recommended darolutamide, an oral androgen receptor inhibitor (ARi), plus ADT in combination with docetaxel for marketing authorization in the European Union (EU) for the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). Darolutamide is already approved under the brand name Nubeqa for the treatment of patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), who are at high risk of developing metastatic disease. "This positive CHMP opinion underscores darolutamide's potential to set a new standard of care for eligible patients living with prostate cancer," said Christine Roth, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer's Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of the Oncology Strategic Business Unit. "With darolutamide's unprecedented survival data and minimal disruption to patients daily living across both mHSPC and high risk nmCRPC, following regulatory approval, we will be working to ensure that as many patients as possible benefit from darolutamide. This recommendation is another step in our mission to redefine what it means to live with prostate cancer across various stages of the disease." "Despite significant advances, for many men with mHSPC, disease progression and the onset of debilitating symptoms remain commonplace. It is therefore critical that these patients have access to treatment options that can not only improve mortality but also delay the time to symptom progression," said Prof. Bertrand Tombal, Professor of Urology at the Universit catholique de Louvain (UCL), Cliniques universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium. "The ARASENS trial is the first to demonstrate the benefits of darolutamide plus ADT in combination with docetaxel in both reducing the risk of death and minimizing deterioration in quality of life with similar overall incidence of adverse events between treatment arms." The final decision from the European Commission on the marketing authorization is expected in the coming months. The compound is already approved in its second indication, mHSPC, in a number of markets including the U.S. under the brand name Nubeqa. Filings in other regions are underway or planned. Darolutamide is being investigated in a broad development program with additional three ongoing or planned large clinical studies, to investigate its potential across prostate cancer patients from the early- to the late-stage of this disease. This includes the ARANOTE Phase III trial evaluating darolutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) versus ADT alone for mHSPC. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men in almost all northern and western European countries.(1) Only 30% of men with mHSPC will survive five years or more after diagnosis.(2) Most men with mHSPC eventually progress to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), a condition with limited long-term survival.(3,4) Darolutamide is developed jointly by Bayer and Orion Corporation, a globally operating Finnish pharmaceutical company. Bayer is responsible for global commercialization, with co-promotion from Bayer and Orion Corporation in certain European markets, e.g. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Scandinavia and Finland. About the ARASENS Trial The ARASENS trial is the only randomized, Phase III, multi-center, double-blind, trial which was prospectively designed to compare the use of a second-generation oral androgen receptor inhibitor (ARi), darolutamide, plus ADT in combination with docetaxel to ADT plus docetaxel (a guideline recommended standard-of-care) in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). A total of 1,306 newly diagnosed patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive 600 mg of darolutamide twice a day or matching placebo, plus ADT in combination with docetaxel. The primary endpoint of this trial was overall survival (OS). Secondary endpoints included time to castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), time to pain progression, time to first symptomatic skeletal event (SSE), time to initiation of subsequent anticancer therapy, all evaluated at 12week intervals, as well as adverse events (AEs) as a measure of safety and tolerability. Results from this trial were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.(5) The ARASENS trial demonstrated that darolutamide plus ADT in combination with docetaxel significantly reduced the risk of death by 32.5% compared to ADT with docetaxel alone.(5) Improvements in the secondary endpoints supported the benefit observed in the primary endpoint, overall survival.(5) About Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men worldwide. In 2020, an estimated 1.4 million men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, and about 375,000 died from the disease worldwide.(6) At the time of diagnosis, most men have localized prostate cancer, meaning their cancer is confined to the prostate gland and can be treated with curative surgery or radiotherapy. Upon relapse, when the disease will metastasize or spread, or if the disease is newly diagnosed, but has already spread, the disease is hormone-sensitive and androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is the cornerstone of treatment. Current treatment options for men with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) include hormone therapy, such as ADT, androgen receptor pathway inhibitors plus ADT or a combination of ADT and docetaxel. Despite these treatments, a large proportion of men with mHSPC will eventually experience progression to metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), a condition with high morbidity and limited survival. About Nubeqa (darolutamide) Darolutamide is an oral androgen receptor inhibitor (ARi) with a distinct chemical structure that binds to the receptor with high affinity and exhibits strong antagonistic activity, thereby inhibiting the receptor function and the growth of prostate cancer cells. The low potential for blood-brain barrier penetration for darolutamide is supported by preclinical models and neuroimaging data in healthy humans. This is supported by the overall low incidence of central nervous system (CNS)-related adverse events (AEs) compared to placebo as seen in the ARAMIS Phase III trial(7) and the improved verbal learning and memory observed in the darolutamide arm of the Phase II ODENZA trial.(8) The product is approved under the brand name Nubeqa in more than 75 countries around the world, including the U.S., EU, Japan and China, for the treatment of patients with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (nmCRPC), who are at high risk of developing metastatic disease. It is also approved for the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC) in a number of markets including the U.S. Filings in other regions are underway or planned. The compound is also being investigated in further studies across various stages of prostate cancer, including in the ARANOTE Phase III trial evaluating darolutamide plus androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) versus ADT alone for metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), as well as the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate Cancer Trials Group (ANZUP) led international Phase III co-operative group DASL-HiCaP (ANZUP1801) trial evaluating darolutamide as an adjuvant treatment for localized prostate cancer with very high risk of recurrence. Information about these trials can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov. In addition, a study to explore the potential of darolutamide in the early setting for patients who have experienced a rise in their prostate specific antigen (PSA) levels following surgery or radiation, is also planned. About Prostate Cancer at Bayer Bayer is committed to delivering science for a better life by advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments. The company has the passion and determination to develop new medicines that help improve and extend the lives of people living with cancer. Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer in men(6) and a key area of focus for Bayer. The company's franchise includes two products on the market (Nubeqa and Xofigo) and several compounds in development, including a unique approach of advancing targeted alpha therapies. Bayer is focused on addressing the unique needs of prostate cancer patients, providing treatments that extend their lives throughout the different stages of the disease and allowing them to continue their everyday activities, so that they can live longer, better lives. About Bayer Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2021, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 44.1 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 5.3 billion euros. 1. The Cancer Atlas: Europe. 2018. https://canceratlas.cancer.org/the-burden/europe/. Accessed December 2022. 2. Ng, K., Smith, S., Shamash, J. Metastatic Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer (mHSPC): Advances and Treatment Strategies in the First-Line Setting. Oncol Ther. 2020;8:209-230. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1007/s40487-020-00119-z . 3. Siegel DA, ONeil ME, Richards TB, Dowling NF, Weir HK. Prostate Cancer Incidence and Survival, by Stage and Race/Ethnicity - United States, 2001-2017. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69:1473-1480. http://dx.doi.org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.15585/mmwr.mm6941a1 4. Hahn AW, Higano CS, Taplin ME, Ryan CJ, Agarwal N. Metastatic Castration-Sensitive Prostate Cancer: Optimizing Patient Selection and Treatment. Am Soc Clin Oncol Educ Book. 2018 May 23;38:363-371. https://doi-org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.1200/edbk_200967 5. Smith M., Hussain M., Saad F. et al. Darolutamide and Survival in Metastatic, Hormone-Sensitive Prostate Cancer. N Engl J Med. 2022; 386:1132-1142.http://dx.doi.org.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/10.15585/mmwr.mm6941a1 6. Global Cancer Statistics 2020: GLOBOCAN Estimates of Incidence and Mortality Worldwide for 36 Cancers in 185 Countries. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. https://acsjournals-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/doi/epdf/10.3322/caac.21660 Accessed December 2022 7. Fizazi, K et al. N Engl J Med. 2019; 380:1235-1246. 8. Colomba E. et al. J Clin Onc 2021; 39 (15_suppl): 5046-5046.