The future of prostate cancer research: bringing data together, looking back and forward

The use of digital data in large data sets will be of pivotal importance to unravel the biological basis of prostate cancer, and to improve on prevention and treatment. For the screening of asymptomatic tumors, their identification, and their treatment with better and targeted therapies, the integration of information from imaging, genomics, and biomarkers is needed. To bring these (un)structured data together, block chain technology is required, while knowledgeable analysts should be available. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to ‘team up’ and provide a common strategy for innovation. Its implementation needs the involvement of all stakeholders (patients, industries, professionals, scientists, governments). This article provides thoughts on how initial steps in urology have been taken, and how to proceed.