Why We Funded It:
There is an urgent need for new and improved treatments for
prostate cancer, and this study is attempting to use a combination
of existing treatments to make them more effective. Developing new
drugs is an expensive and time-consuming business, and we welcome
the opportunity to trial small-scale initiatives which may allow
existing treatments to be used more effectively against prostate
cancer.
Scientific Title: Optimal radiation targeting
of PTEN deficiency in castrate resistant prostate cancer in
combination with modulators of DNA damage and repair.
Research project summary:
This project will investigate a new, more effective way to treat
prostate cancer by improving the effects of current radiotherapy
techniques. Treatment with drugs that prevent repair of the
DNA following radiation exposure will be tested to try and stop
tumour resistance to radiotherapy. The study therefore aims to try
and make these tumours more sensitive to radiotherapy. The first
drug that will be tested stops a protein called PARP from helping
in the repair of damaged DNA. The second drug that will be tested
stops a protein called ATM which normally detects DNA damage at an
early stage and triggers its repair. Tests will also be
performed to ensure that none of these combinations of drugs and
radiation damage normal cells and tissues. This will allow design
of the most optimal treatment. The project could eventually lead to
new treatments for advanced prostate cancer that is no longer
responding to other treatments, and for which currently there is no
effective cure.
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