Important funding for Prostate Cancer Research at IOR obtained by Dr. Carbone
Institute of Oncology Research
The Swiss Cancer Research Foundation supports innovative cancer research projects selected by a Scientific Committee. Dr. Giuseppina Carbone, group leader of the Prostate Cancer Biology laboratory at the IOR, obtained funding from the Swiss Cancer Research Foundation to pursue a 3-year project entitled "Novel epigenetic players in castration-resistant prostate cancer: functional and therapeutic impact".
This project focuses on prostate cancer, the second most common cancer in men and a leading cause of cancer-related mortality. Although the localized tumors are curable, many patients reach the stage of metastasis and develop resistance to standard treatments progressing into the so-called "castration-resistant prostate cancer" that can be rapidly lethal.
Relevant data, recently gathered in Dr. Carbone’s laboratory, points to novel epigenetic players driving androgen-independent disease.“We found that the expression of these proteins in specific cell context enhanced vulnerability to selected targeting strategies. This synthetic letality can be exploited to improve treatment strategy” said Dr. Carbone.
This new research project aims specifically to dissect the role of these epigenetic proteins during the transition from indolent to aggressive prostate tumors . To this end,the laboratory will implement innovative approaches including transcriptomic,epigenomic and mass spectrometry based histone characterization in multiple human cell lines, patient-derived and murine models. Moreover, novel therapeutic approaches to reverse the oncogenic targets involved,will be tested.
Discoveries from this project are expected to provide novel insights for understanding and reversing castration-resistant prostate cancer.
