Prostate Cancer Research Highlights

Grantee: Kosj Yamoah, MD, PhD
Institution: H. Lee Moffitt  Cancer Care & Research Institute in Tampa, Fla.
Term: 7/1/2017 to 6/30/2022

The Challenge: African American men in the United States are 1.7 times more likely to get prostate cancer and 2.3 times more likely to die from it compared to European American men. Doctors use a tool to help predict how aggressive a man’s prostate cancer may be. With this information, the doctor can better guide decisions about treatment. The problem is, it’s not clear whether these tools apply to African American men. 

The Research: Previous researchers have established that ethnic differences in genes affect prostate tumors. These genetic differences are partly responsible for the increased risk an African American man has for getting prostate cancer and dying from it. Yamoah and his fellow researchers believe that genetic information in a prostate tumor may give hints about where the tumors are located, making them easier to find and biopsy. The team also thinks tumor genes may suggest how aggressively the cancer will spread to other parts of the body.

With the support of a grant from the American Cancer Society, Yamoah is developing a new predictive tool, using genetic information, to help guide treatment for prostate cancer. Relying on genetic data means the tool should be valuable to African American men as well as European American men. 

The Goal and Long-term Possibilities: Yamoah’s findings may improve doctors’ ability to find and diagnose prostate tumors and recommend more personalized treatment choices for aggressive tumors. His work to better use genetic differences between ethnic groups may help reduce the large differences (disparities) for getting and dying from prostate cancer between ethnic groups. To learn more, listen to this podcast with Yamaoh.

Grantee: Raymond Blind, PhD
Institution: Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.
Term: 7/1/2017 to 6/30/2021

The Challenge: For reasons no one understands, drugs to kill cancer don’t work for many patients. The problem is, no one knows how well the treatment will work until the patient’s received it. That means, a patient could have all the side effects of a drug without any of its power to kill cancer.

The Research:  Blind and his research team developed a new type of technology that tests a patient’s tumor to see how well it will respond to anti-cancer drugs. Their aim is to help people already diagnosed with prostate, liver, or brain cancer.

The Goal and Long-term Possibilities: Blind's goal is to apply his findings to develop new classes of medicines to fight these cancers. His team’s technology could also help explain how cancers develop, which could make clinical trials for new drugs more likely to succeed.

Grantee: Wenliang Li, PhD
Institution: University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Term: 7/1/2017 to 6/30/2021

The Challenge: Hormone therapy usually works to treat prostate cancer—at first. Over time, though, the cancer cells become able to resist the treatment, allowing the cancer to keep growing and spreading. Certain types of prostate tumors become so resistant to treatment that nothing works to kill them. 

The Research: Li has discovered a series of events that leads to these treatment-resistant prostate cancers. He and his research team are studying exactly what happens inside the cells. They’re using mice to see if blocking specific actions can stop this deadly form of prostate cancer from developing. Li’s team is also testing to see if certain drugs aimed at key steps in this transformation can stop prostate cancer cells from becoming resistant to anti-cancer drugs. They’re using tumor samples from men with prostate cancer to help them learn if activity in the cell helps identify patients who have a greater chance of the tumor spreading.

The Goal and Long-term Possibilities: Li’s findings may help doctors better understand how prostate cancer progresses. His team’s work may also help identify with the development of new treatments for prostate cancer.