Prostate Cancer Program (PCP)

Overview

The Prostate Cancer Program (PCP) focuses on understanding the mechanisms responsible for prostate cancer progression, identifying potential targets for more effective therapies, prevention, diagnosis, and prognosis of the cancer, and developing pre-clinical and clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of interventions based on such targets. The overall hypothesis linking different PCP research projects is that alterations in different signaling pathways and androgen actions due to genetic, epigenetic and/or environmental factors and their crosstalk play essential roles in prostate cancer development and progression and provide targets for diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of prostate cancer. The Program has special expertise in prostate cancer biology, androgen action, prevention, urologic surgery, clinical pharmacology, and in developing new drugs and hormone therapies. Program members have been exploring ways to overcome drug resistance to conventional therapies as well as studying the use of novel agents for the treatment of prostate cancer.

The overarching hypothesis linking different PCP research projects is that alterations in different signaling pathways and androgen actions due to genetic, epigenetic and/or environmental factors and their crosstalk play essential roles in prostate cancer development and progression and provide targets for prevention, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy of prostate cancer. The Program’s goals are to: (1) develop an improved understanding of the biology of prostate cancer; (2) develop and clinically evaluate novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches; and (3) develop and clinically evaluate new strategies for prostate cancer prevention. These goals are approached principally through translational studies, the centerpiece of the Program, which move concepts bi-directionally between the basic science laboratory and the clinic through coordinated and complimentary basic science investigations and clinical trials. PCP is a highly interactive disease site program with a diverse membership that includes urologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, psychologists, epidemiologists, pharmacologists, and cellular and molecular biologists, all of whom contribute to the mission of the Program. Many of the grants and publications obtained by Program members are the result of collaborative efforts among PCP members as well as inter-programmatic collaborations with investigators in other UPCI programs. PCP is a vital component of the UPCI, emphasizing basic, translational, and clinical research focused on making a significant impact on improving the cancer care options of men prostate tumors. The Program interests are grouped into 3 broad areas, (1) androgen action, (2) Diagnosis and prognosis- gene expression profiling and epigenetics, and (3) Cancer prevention and epidemiology.