Researchers at the University of Windsor have joined an international team looking for improved diagnostic techniques against cancer.
John Trant and Lisa Porter will represent U of W with a group currently searching for new methods of diagnosing drug-resistant forms of prostate cancer. They will join researchers from the University of British Columbia Vancouver Prostate Centre, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School.
One current diagnostic method is looking for a protein called Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA). PSMA testing is used to find prostate cancer cells that have spread to other parts of the body.
"PSMA is produced by prostate cancer tumours, so several therapies and diagnostic tools work by targeting PSMA," said Porter in a media release. "Recent research from our lab and others shows that prostate cancer can evolve into a new type of aggressive cancer, called neuroendocrine prostate cancer, that stops making PSMA. This presents a potential problem when you are relying on PSMA to see the cancer."
According to Trant, the team is looking into identifying other proteins in prostate cancer like PSMA and has developed a fluorescent probe that attaches itself to these proteins, identifying cancer cells in diagnostic settings.
"Usually, radiochemists are left with PET scans that can’t look at individual cells for cancer growth," said Trant. "With a fluorescent probe, we can look at which specific cells this probe is binding to and exactly where it is located."
The Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation's Seeds For Hope Program is supporting this project locally, along with the Windsor chapter of the Prostate Cancer Fight Foundation Ride for Dad. Each researcher has also been provided with a national grant.
