BC Cancer Agency researchers today received a $1.5 million Cdn. grant to analyze the behaviour of prostate tumour cells using leading-edge technology, which will help develop better therapies to treat late-stage prostate cancer. Currently there are no effective therapies available for this stage of the disease.

The five-year grant, awarded to Dr. Marianne Sadar by the prestigious US National Cancer Institute and National Institute of Health, will use a variety of techniques to grow tumour tissue, analyze the tissue's genome and proteome, find new biomarkers, and identify better drug targets for this type of cancer.

Current treatment for advanced prostate cancer is androgen withdrawal. While initially effective, this treatment isn't able to completely eliminate all prostate cancer cells, and eventually, patients will suffer a relapse. Understanding the progression of prostate cancer to androgen independence is essential to developing better treatments.

One of the keys to this research is a unique method for growing the tumour tissue for research – a technique developed in Dr. Sadar's lab which gives her team a research advantage. The method used in other labs to mimic progression of prostate cancer tissue becomes quickly contaminated with the host's cells, making it useless for genomic and proteomic analyses.

The approach used in Dr. Sadar's lab employs growing tumours in hollow fibres to prevent contamination and remarkably still allow the cells to progress to androgen independence. The fibers are harvested at various stages of progression of the cancer for analysis. Genomic and proteomic analyses have the power to reveal what makes the disease progress to the terminal stage.

"Models that mimic particular aspects of prostate cancer are essential to obtain a breakthrough in curing this disease" explains Dr. Sadar. "Our Prostate Cancer Program has become a leader in this field thereby setting the stage for new discoveries. These models, together with the capacity of genomic and proteomic analyses places the BC Cancer Agency in a unique position that cannot currently be duplicated elsewhere in the world, which is a criteria to obtain funding from the United States."

By understanding how, when and why the cells no longer respond to the androgen deprivation at each stage of the disease's progression, the BC Cancer Agency researchers hope to discover new biomarkers and the pathways involved. In turn, these biomarkers will enable researchers and clinicians to develop prognostic and diagnostics tests. Identification of the pathways will aid in developing new drug targets.

Project co-investigators and collaborators include Dr. Marco Marra, Dr. Steven Jones, Dr. Rob Holt, Dr. Yuzhuo Wang, Dr. Mira Keyes, and Dr. Diponkar Banerjee, all of the BC Cancer Agency.

The BC Cancer Agency, a part of the Provincial Health Services Authority, is committed to reducing the incidence of cancer, reducing the mortality from cancer, and improving the quality of life of those living with cancer.  It provides a comprehensive cancer control program for the people of British Columbia by working with community partners to deliver a range of oncology services, including prevention, early detection, diagnosis and treatment, research, education, supportive care, rehabilitation and palliative care.  The BC Cancer Research Centre conducts research into the causes and cures for cancer. The BC Cancer Foundation supports research at the BC Cancer Agency.

For more information, please contact:

Nicole Adams

Public Relations Officer

BC Cancer Agency

Ph: (604) 877-6272

Pager: (604) 641-5167