Medical oncologist Niven Mehra has been appointed Professor of Targeted therapy for urological tumors at Radboud university medical center and Radboud University. He specializes in precision oncology for prostate and bladder cancer, an approach in which treatments are tailored to the characteristics of a patient’s tumor. His goal is to ensure that every patient receives the treatment most likely to succeed at that stage of their disease.
To achieve this, Mehra studies how prostate and bladder tumors develop and change over the course of the disease. He investigates their genetic characteristics, including through blood tests. When cancer cells die, they release small fragments of DNA into the bloodstream. This circulating tumor DNA contains valuable information about the cancer. Using highly sensitive tests, researchers can detect and analyze these fragments. Some tests focus on specific genes, while others examine all the genetic material found in the circulating tumor DNA.
Detecting remaining cancer cells
Blood tests can be used to detect cancer cells that remain in the body after treatment. Following surgery or radiation therapy, cancer cells may still be present even when scans no longer show any signs of disease. ‘With highly sensitive blood tests that measure circulating tumor DNA, we can detect traces of cancer that are not visible on CT or PET scans', says Mehra. ‘If we better understand how reliable these tests are in detecting remaining cancer cells, we will be able to determine more accurately whether a treatment has been successful and whether a patient is truly cancer-free. This will help us identify patients who may benefit from additional treatment, while sparing others from unnecessary intensive therapies.’
Tracking how a tumor changes
Blood tests can also help doctors monitor how cancer evolves over time. Tumors can change during treatment with chemotherapy, targeted therapy, or immunotherapy. These changes can make a tumor resistant to treatment. ‘By taking blood samples regularly, we can track how a tumor responds to treatment', Mehra explains. ‘This allows us to identify sooner when a treatment is becoming less effective and adjust it to the new situation.’
Finding the right treatment
In addition to this research, Mehra is building a biobank that combines large amounts of patient data and biological samples. Together with colleagues from academic and regional hospitals across the Netherlands, he has helped establish national research infrastructures for prostate and bladder cancer. These now contain data from more than 2,000 patients. By analyzing these data, he hopes to understand treatment outcomes, and identify new treatment options for tumors for which few effective therapies are currently available.
Mehra is also committed to improving treatment for patients whose tumors have characteristics that make them more likely to respond to targeted therapies or immunotherapies. ‘We sometimes see that a small group of patients responds particularly well to a specific treatment', he says. For example, his research group showed that immunotherapy, which has limited benefit for most men with prostate cancer, can be highly effective in a small group of patients whose tumors carry specific DNA alterations. He also contributed to the international studies that led to the approval of PARP inhibitors, a targeted treatment for patients with tumors that are unable to properly repair DNA damage. Mehra aims to identify these patients earlier and ensure they have access to effective treatments. ‘By doing so, we can give patients access to the care that can truly make a difference for them.’
Career
Niven Mehra studied Medicine at Utrecht University and trained as a medical oncologist at UMC Utrecht. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a fellow and postdoctoral researcher at The Royal Marsden Hospital and The Institute of Cancer Research in London, where he further developed his expertise in early-phase clinical research and biomarker research in prostate cancer. In 2007, he earned his PhD with research focused on new biomarkers for the early detection of cancer and for predicting disease progression. In 2016, he joined the Department of Medical Oncology at Radboudumc. Since 2023, he has co-led the Radboudumc research program Precision Medicine in Solid Cancer together with Professor Marjolijn Ligtenberg. In addition, he serves as a faculty member for prostate cancer within the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), contributes to both the Dutch and European ESMO clinical guidelines for prostate cancer, and holds positions within ESMO, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), the Netherlands Society of Medical Oncology (NVMO), and the Netherlands Association of Internal Medicine (NIV). His appointment as Professor-Research group leader and research leader takes effect on November 1, 2026.
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