How do ALDHs help prostate cancer grow and spread?

Grant information

Institution - Institute of Cancer Therapeutics, University of Bradford
Researcher - Professor Klaus Pors
Grant award - £99,325
Duration - 2013-2016
Reference - S12-027 Pors

Why did we fund this project?

• Professor Klaus Pors and team identified that a group of targets called ‘ALDHs’ are able to help prostate cancer grow and spread.
• In this project, Klaus and team wanted to know which of the many different types of ALDHs were most important in prostate cancer, and understand exactly how they were able to help cancer grow and spread.
• These ALDHs could be targeted by new prostate cancer drugs, or used in tests to predict whether men's cancer is likely to need treatment.

What did the team do?

• The team studied ALDHs in prostate cancer tissue taken from men, and prostate cancer cells grown in the lab.
• Together, this helped the team understand how ALDHs help cancer cells grow and spread, and which of the many types of ALDHs are most important.
• This project also trained a PhD student, allowing them to gain key biology skills and establish themselves as a prostate cancer researcher.

What did the team achieve?

• The team identified multiple types of ALDHs important in prostate cancer.
• For example, the team found one type called ALDH3A1 was found in high amounts in prostate cancer. Prostate cancer cells that produced lots of ALDH3A1 were more able to spread to other parts of the body.
• Interestingly, the team found prostate cancer cells that were resistant to chemotherapy produced very high amounts of ALDHs.
• Excitingly, when the team used a drug to block the ALDHs, the cancer cells were no longer resistant to chemotherapy. This suggests drugs targeting ALDHs could be used to make chemotherapy work for longer.

What does this mean for men?

• The team have identified types of ALDHs that are important in helping cancer grow and spread. These could be targets for future treatments.
• They have excitingly shown blocking ALDHs could make chemotherapy work for longer.
• The team are now looking to develop a drug that can block ALDHs that could be used in men.