Studying the cells around prostate cancer to predict men’s response to treatment
Grant information
Researchers: Dr Damien Leach & Professor Charlotte Bevan
Institution: Imperial College London
Grant award: £479,384
Reference: RIA21-ST2-023
What you need to know
• The researchers want to find out why some men with prostate cancer stop responding to therapy and find other treatments that work for them.
• They are studying a type of cell called fibroblasts, which interact with cancer cells and can contribute to cancer progression.
• By studying these fibroblasts and how to identify them, the researchers hope to identify the best treatments for patients (personalised therapy) and develop new treatments that are more effective and have fewer side effects than current treatments.
What will the team do?
Dr Leach is studying a type of cell called fibroblasts to see if they can help us predict which men are at risk of their prostate cancer spreading, and to find new ways to treat the disease.
Fibroblasts exist throughout the body, and help our cells stick together and our wounds heal. But in prostate cancer, fibroblasts seem to help the disease along, and can even change how the cancer cells respond to drugs.
The team want to study these fibroblasts in more detail, to find out what makes them different from other fibroblasts. In particular, he wants to study fibroblasts that don’t have a molecule called the androgen receptor, which is usually present in fibroblasts. He thinks that this type of fibroblasts could be a sign that the cancer is more likely to spread outside the prostate and cause problems.
They will look at samples taken from men with prostate cancer and use special tools to study the fibroblasts. One tool is called mass spectrometry imaging, which lets him look for lots of different proteins at once. With this information, he can see whether the presence (or absence) of any particular proteins is linked to whether a man gets better or not. Another tool is called atomic force microscopy, which lets him see how stiff or soft the environment around the cancer cells is. This can affect both how drugs reach the cancer, and how cancer cells respond.
This study will use some exciting new approaches to investigate how the microenvironment (the cells and proteins) that surround and interact with prostate cancer can be exploited to assess the likelihood of the cancer progressing. This could lead to treatments that are better tailored to each man.
How will this benefit men?
If this research is successful, it could lead to new tests that can predict which patients are at higher risk of their cancer spreading. It could also help doctors develop better treatments that target these fibroblasts and stop the cancer from growing and spreading. These treatments could be less harmful than current treatments, which often have serious side effects. Overall, Dr Leach and Professor Bevan’s research could improve the lives of people with prostate cancer by helping doctors diagnose and treat the disease more effectively.
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