• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 23, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Cancer

CWRU researcher awarded nearly $1 million from the DOD to study prostate cancer drug resistance

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
December 21, 2018
in Cancer
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Sanjay Gupta, PhD, of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center will receive $962,000 over three years to investigate drug resistance mechanisms in prostate cancer. The funding is part of the Department of Defense’s Idea Award program, that aims to improve quality of life by decreasing the impact of cancer on active duty service members and their communities.

Gupta will use the award and clinically-approved drugs to develop a safe, efficacious, and cost-effective combination therapy for castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). Gupta is the Carter Kissell Professor and Research Director in the Department of Urology, a research scientist at the Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, and a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“Castrate-resistant prostate cancer is the deadliest form of prostate cancer,” Gupta said. “It often emerges after a man has one or both testes removed, as a tumor begins to adapt to low androgen levels.” CRPC tumors can also emerge following medications that suppress androgens–hormones only found in males. The median survival rate for men diagnosed with CRPC is less than two years.

A CRPC tumor adapts to low androgen levels by either producing its own androgens, or altering androgen receptors on the surfaces of tumor cells. Treatments for CRPC are sequential: patients normally receive chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation therapy, and ultimately medications to modulate androgen signaling inside cancer cells. Clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of CRPC medications are ongoing.

Said Gupta, “New generation androgen signaling inhibitors will offer an initial positive response, but that is followed by drug resistance and clinical progression. Patients usually relapse within a year.” Gupta’s study will test whether medications that target slightly different signaling pathways could be used to help overcome drug resistance.

Gupta will study simvastatin and metformin–two drugs that appear promising in his preliminary studies. Together, the drugs weaken CRPC cells and halt metastasis. Simvastatin works by blocking the rate-limiting enzyme for cholesterol synthesis, called HMG-CoAR (3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-Coenzyme A). Metformin activates AMP kinase (5′-adenosine monophosphate kinase), a so-called “master regulator” of androgen signaling in prostate cancer cells.

Together with colleagues, Gupta will test whether the enzymes HMG-CoAR and AMP kinase represent novel therapeutic targets for CRPC–particularly CRPC that is already resistant to existing androgen inhibitor drugs. The researchers will transplant drug-resistant CRPC patient samples into mouse models and determine if changing the enzymes’ levels via medications offers therapeutic benefits.

The studies will not only fundamentally advance the field of androgen signaling, but could help lay a foundation for clinical trials into new therapeutic options for CRPC. “Our ultimate goals are prolonging survival, minimizing complications, and maintaining quality of life for these patients,” Gupta said.

###

Gupta’s collaborators in the newly funded study include Gregory T. MacLennan, PhD, Matthew Cooney, MD, Pingfu Fu, PhD, and Vinay Varadan, PhD, all Case Western Reserve School of Medicine faculty and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center members, and Eswar Shankar, PhD, cancer biologist in the Department of Urology at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine.

For more information about Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, please visit: case.edu/medicine.

Media Contact
Ansley Gogol
[email protected]
216-368-4452
http://casemed.case.edu/cwrumed360/news-releases/release.cfm?news_id=1610&news_category=8

Tags: cancerCollaborationGrants/FundingHealth CareMedicine/HealthProstate CancerQuality of LifeUrogenital System
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

DWI-Guided vs. MRI-Based IMRT in Head & Neck

DWI-Guided vs. MRI-Based IMRT in Head & Neck

August 23, 2025
Uncovering Cutaneous SCC Genomic Diversity via Single-Cell DNA

Uncovering Cutaneous SCC Genomic Diversity via Single-Cell DNA

August 23, 2025

Moffitt Study Reveals Lymphoma Speeds Up Aging in Immune Cells and Tissues

August 23, 2025

Chitinase-3-like Protein 1 Emerges as a Promising New Biomarker for Diagnosing and Managing Liver Disease

August 22, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • blank

    Molecules in Focus: Capturing the Timeless Dance of Particles

    141 shares
    Share 56 Tweet 35
  • New Drug Formulation Transforms Intravenous Treatments into Rapid Injections

    114 shares
    Share 46 Tweet 29
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    81 shares
    Share 32 Tweet 20
  • Modified DASH Diet Reduces Blood Sugar Levels in Adults with Type 2 Diabetes, Clinical Trial Finds

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Weather’s Impact on Anopheles Mosquito Populations in Lagos

Ghost Spider’s Maternal Care vs. New Fly Species

DWI-Guided vs. MRI-Based IMRT in Head & Neck

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.