Cancer Genetics Group
Heads of laboratory:
Cancer is a disease arising through a multiple step process driven by genetic alterations. Using modern molecular biology techniques, the Cancer Genetics Group has identified several genes with altered expression in prostate cancer. This work was made possible by establishing a prostate tissue bank, containing several hundred samples of both diseased and normal prostates, and by developing a technique of enriching cancer cells within samples. Building on the results of this genetic analysis, this group has proposed a hypothesis that fat intake promotes prostate cancer formation, and has identified a therapeutic target for treating prostate cancer including the late stage androgen-independent prostate cancer. This treatment clearly inhibited the growth of cultured prostate cells in the laboratory. Further studies are being conducted to advance this treatment to clinical trials.
To study the mechanism of androgen-independent prostate cancer, this group has examined the prostate of a congenital androgen-deficient mouse. These studies have identified several androgen-independent genes in the mouse prostate and their corresponding genes in human prostate. These results are extremely important in understanding how cancer cells survive in the absence of androgens.
This group has established a colony of transgenic mice carrying human genetic defects in the prostate. The purpose of this is two fold. One is to verify the causal effect of the identified gene in relation to prostate cancer, and the other is to make animal models mimicking human prostate cancer. Furthermore, new treatments for prostate cancer can be tested in these transgenic mice.
