Research we fund

Investigating a new drug to improve treatment for men with prostate cancer

What you need to know

  • Advanced prostate cancer is treated with hormone therapy, but eventually becomes resistant, leaving men with few remaining treatment options.
  • Professor Ali and Professor Bevan from Imperial College London have developed a new drug which may be able to target treatment resistant cells.
  • In this project, they will be testing whether this new drug can stop the growth of prostate cancer cells and identify which men the drug could be effective in.
The discoveries we will make should allow us to make the best use of this new class of cancer drug in treating men with prostate cancer
Dr Simak Ali

Finding a new way to treat resistant cells

The Androgen Receptor is a protein which can turn on cancer-causing genes in prostate cancer. However, hormone therapy drugs for prostate cancer can prevent this receptor from working. Initially these therapies can be effective at stopping cancer cell growth, but over time the cancer cells can become resistant to treatment.

Professor Ali and Professor Bevan have developed a new drug which targets Androgen Receptor signalling. They believe it can be used to kill prostate cancer cells, including those that are resistant to existing hormone therapies.

Stopping prostate cancer cell growth

The new drug targets a specific protein called CDK7, which helps speed up the process of turning genes on or off. Professors Ali and Bevan have previously shown that by targeting the protein CDK7, this drug can influence the activity of the Androgen Receptor. Blocking the Androgen Receptor and turning off cancer-causing genes could provide a novel way to stop cancer cells from growing.

Building evidence to test the treatment in men

In this project, they’ll test their new drug on its own, and in combination with other treatments, to determine how effective this approach is at treating advanced prostate cancer. They’ll also be identifying genetic markers which may predict which men are most likely to benefit from using this drug.

This drug was previously developed through researching breast and colorectal cancer (and is currently being investigated in clinical trials for these cancers). This work will help them build a case to test their new treatment in men with advanced prostate cancer in future clinical trials.

Grant information

Reference – RIA19-ST2-004

Researcher – Professor Simak Ali and Professor Charlotte Bevan

Institution – Imperial College London

Award - £369,934