Institution Queen's Institute for Medical Research, University of Edinburgh
Project TitleFinding out how non-tumour cells control prostate cancer growth
ResearcherDr Axel Thomson
Grant award£145,738
Duration2008 -
2011
Institution Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre, Western General Hospital
Project TitleThe use of nitric oxide in combination with radiotherapy as a new treatment for prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Fouad Habib
Grant award£108,204
Duration2008 -
2010
Institution Institute of Cancer Research
Project TitleDeveloping a way to predict the aggressiveness of prostate cancer.
ResearcherProfessor Colin Cooper
Grant award£152,475
Duration2008 -
2011
Institution Imperial College London
Project TitleStudying the role the GNMT protein plays in prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Lakjaya Buluwela
Grant award£102,220
Duration2008 -
2011
Institution University of Bradford
Project TitleA new treatment for advanced prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Helen Sheldrake
SummaryThis is a pilot award to develop a treatment which blocks specific cell surface molecules called the Beta-3 integrins, which are involved in help allowing prostate cancer to survive, grow, and spread through the blood stream and into the bones. Currently this advanced type of prostate cancer cannot be controlled by existing treatments once it has spread to the bones.
Grant award£49,992
Duration2011 -
2012
Institution University of Cambridge
Project TitleThe role of cell regulation processes in the growth, progression and treatment resistance of prostate cancer.
ResearcherProfessor David Neal
SummaryThis project focuses on the role played by a mechanism called ‘autophagy’ in prostate cancer cells, and will investigate whether altering this process could be used to treat the cancer. Autophagy is a process that tightly regulates cell growth by enabling death of older cells, the degradation of their components, and recycling of cellular products for the growth of new cells. This process is thought to be lost in the early stages of cancer thus allowing rapid, uncontrolled growth of cancer cells; however, it may be reactivated in larger tumours, causing tumour cells to spread to other parts of the body, and perhaps helping the tumour to resist drug treatments.
Grant award£43,851
Duration2011 -
2013
Institution University of Cambridge
Project TitleA new strategy to stop growth factors in advanced prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Satoshi Hori
SummaryThis project will test if increasing levels of a gene called Sef in prostate cancer cells can improve the efficacy of current treatments and prevent prostate cancer progression. The ultimate aim is to develop a new way of treating advanced prostate cancer by blocking its growth.
Grant award£64,661
Duration2011 -
2013
Institution University of Bradford
Project TitleA new treatment for advanced prostate cancer with improved response and low side effects
ResearcherDr Jason Gill
SummaryThe project plan is to develop a new chemotherapy for prostate cancer which will act directly against the tumour with significantly reduced side effects, and have specific activity against advanced prostate cancer.
Grant award£257,816
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution Beatson Institute, University of Glasgow
Project TitleHow do the molecules Sprouty2 and PI3/AKT promote growth of prostate cancer?
ResearcherProfessor Hing Leung
SummaryThis project will use human prostate cancer samples to study the activity of the molecules Sprouty2 and PI3/AKT in prostate cancer. The aim is to develop targeted and individual treatment plans for men using these two molecules, by first of all understanding how they work together to cause the spread of aggressive prostate cancer, and their role as the cancer progresses and develops resistance to standard treatments.
Grant award£150,812
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution Beatson Institute, University of Glasgow
Project TitleWhat changes occur to make men with prostate cancer stop responding to therapy?
ResearcherDr Joanne Edwards
SummaryThis project aims to further our understanding of why prostate cancer therapy fails and identify novel proteins within prostate cancer cells that future drugs could be developed to work against.
Grant award£130,220
Duration2011 -
2013
Institution Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton
Project TitleA new approach to testing markers of prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Colin Cooper
SummaryThis project is a clinical study to test several highly promising new markers for prostate cancer in the blood and urine samples from 714 men undergoing a special type of prostate biopsy, called template mapping biopsy.
Grant award£199,725
Duration2012 -
2015
Institution Imperial College London
Project TitleTowards a novel therapy for prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Charlotte Bevan
SummaryThis study proposes to develop small molecules to increase levels of a protein called prohibitin in prostate tumours with the aim of stopping tumour growth. This is a promising new treatment strategy for prostate cancer.
Grant award£243,893
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution University College London
Project TitleImproving needle biopsy for men affected by prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Dean Barratt
SummaryThis project proposal is to develop a new improved approach to guiding needle biopsy that will allow tissue samples to be collected with much higher accuracy than can be achieved using existing techniques.
Grant award£74,014
Duration2011 -
2013
Institution University of Aberystwyth
Project TitleImproved initial diagnosis and localisation of prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Reyer Zwiggelaar
SummaryThis project will investigate if the combination of magnetic resonance (MRI) and ultrasound information can provide improved initial diagnosis and localisation of prostate cancer. The study aims to improve diagnosis of prostate cancer, and also aims to improve staging and prognosis of the disease to assist treatment decision-making.
Grant award£60,010
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution University of Bath
Project TitleTargeting a protein to treat prostate cancer that is no longer responding to hormone therapy
ResearcherDr Matthew David Lloyd
SummaryThe project is to study an important protein in prostate cancer, known as AMACR. The aim is to establish the role of AMACR protein in prostate cancer, and start the development of new medical treatments based on this knowledge.
Grant award£91,110
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution Queen’s University Belfast
Project TitleImproving radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Kevin Prise
SummaryThis study aims to improve the effects of radiotherapy treatment of prostate cancer by first investigating the causes of tumour resistance to radiotherapy. The next step is to use drugs which will prevent the tumour’s repair and recovery mechanisms from radiation exposure alongside radiotherapy treatment, to try and improve the efficacy of the treatment.
Grant award£99,273
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution University of Aberdeen
Project TitleNew drug targets for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Iain McEwan
SummaryThis project aims to identify new targets to develop treatments for drug-resistant, advanced prostate cancer.
Grant award£81,634
Duration2011 -
2014
Institution King's College London
Project TitleHelping men to manage hot flushes and night sweats following prostate cancer treatments
ResearcherProfessor Myra Hunter
SummaryThis is a study to test if a self-management treatment (guided 4 week Self-Help with a booklet and a CD), that has been found to help women with similar symptoms, can reduce hot flushes and night sweats in men with prostate cancer.
Grant award£261,001
Duration2011 -
2013
Institution Oxford Brookes University
Project TitleA pilot study of a nurse-led intervention in primary care providing tailored advice and support to prostate cancer survivors on emotional and physical issues
ResearcherProfessor Eila Watson
SummaryThis project is a pilot trial to test the effectiveness of a nurse-led intervention which will target men with prostate-related problems (physical (eg urinary, bowel, sexual functioning) or psychological/ psychosexual) when they are 12-24 months post-diagnosis, and will offer individualised advice, support and follow-up. This trial is an essential first step required to generate the information needed to design and run a definitive, future trial to test its clinical and cost-effectiveness.
Grant award£205,444
Duration2012 -
2015
Institution Imperial College, London
Project TitleDownstream targets of androgen signalling: a proteomic approach
ResearcherDr Charlotte Bevan
SummaryTreatment options for men who have relapsed on hormone therapy are very limited. Ultimately the outcomes of this work will include changes in androgen (hormone) receptor signalling to be used as a biomarker. This may allow for personalised therapy for advanced cancer, and the development of treatment options for men with advanced prostate cancer who have relapsed on current therapies.
Grant award£543,424
Duration2004 -
2007
Institution Imperial College, London
Project TitleInvestigation of Wnt function in the normal prostate and in prostate cancer. Investigation of sFRP-1 and Wnt11 function in prostate cancer. Beta-catenin localisation and function in prostate cancer cells
ResearcherDr Robert Kypta
SummaryThe results of this project indicated that the gene Wnt-11 is present at high levels in a significant number of patient tumours. 'Switching off' the Wnt-11 gene in cells from such tumours makes them less likely to survive hormone treatments and reduces the ability or more aggressive prostate cancer cells to spread. Thus, a therapy that targets Wnt-11 has the potential to kill prostate cancer cells and stop the more resistant cells from spreading. Since Wnt-11 is a protein that is found on the surface of prostate cancer cells this can be targeted using antibodies. There are presently no such antibodies available and a priority for the future is to make antibodies that will block Wnt-11 activity.
Grant award£622,734
Duration2004 -
2008
Institution Imperial College, London
Project TitleDevelopment of recombinant single chain Fv antibodies to human prostate cells for prostate research and therapy
ResearcherDr Tahereh Kamalati
SummaryThis project aimed to generate novel “tools” for better “detection” and “treatment” of prostate cancer cells in patients as well as “tools” for studying how prostate cancer develops. Such “tools”, currently do not exist but would be invaluable in prostate cancer therapy. In this context, this project successfully developed two unique human antibodies that can
recognise prostate cancer cells and target them directly.
Grant award£201,379
Duration2004 -
2006
Institution Imperial College, London
Project TitleTargeting of histone deacetylation to androgen regulated genes for therapeutic approaches in prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Simak Ali and Dr Laki Buluwela
SummaryThis study yielded new information regarding the gene expression changes brought about by the androgen receptor in prostate cancer cells.
Grant award£186,279
Duration2004 -
2007
Institution The University of Leicester
Project TitleResearch the support and information needs of carers for men with prostate cancer
ResearcherPaul Sinfield
Grant award£83,564
Duration2007 -
2008
Institution Imperial College, London
Project TitleResearching a gene that might be important in the early identification of aggressive prostate cancer, and also in creating a long lasting treatment for it
ResearcherProfessor Mustafa Djamgoz
Grant award£51,574
Duration2007 -
2008
Institution Beatson Centre, Glasgow University
Project TitleDeveloping a possible drug treatment for aggressive prostate cancer.
ResearcherProfessor Hing Leung
Grant award£73,690
Duration2007 -
2009
Institution Imperial College, Department of Oncology, Hammersmith Campus
Project TitleInvestigation of a new target for the prevention of prostate cancer spreading to bone : The role of Endo180 in prostate cancer cell migration and metastasis
ResearcherDr Justin Sturge
Grant award£97,093
Duration2007 -
2010
Institution Department of Oncology, Imperial College London Hammersmith Campus
Project TitleResearching a molecule that might make prostate cancer cells more susceptible to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy: mTor inhibition to sensitising prostate cancer to irradiation and docetaxel chemotherapy.
ResearcherDr Dmitry Pshezhetskiy
Grant award£118,893
Duration2007 -
2010
Institution Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton
Project TitleIdentifying biomarkers that will help predict how individuals might be affected by their prostate cancer : A biopsy TMA analysis of biomarkers of prostate cancer behaviour
ResearcherDr Chris Parker
SummaryThis project will study multiple tumour tissue types to try and determine specific molecules as 'biomarkers' to identify which tumours are more aggressive and require radical treatment, from tumours which are less aggressive.
Grant award£158,635
Duration2007 -
2010
Institution Academic Unit of Pathology, Sheffield
Project TitleGene therapy for advanced prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Munitta Muthana
SummaryThis project is to investigate gene therapy of prostate cancer that has spread to the bone (metastasised) and developed into advanced cancer. The gene therapy is exploiting a type of blood cell called a macrophage, these blood cells are known to accumulate nearby to tumours. Using these macrophage blood cells to deliver drugs could allow direct targeting of the cancer cells with treatments, thus avoiding damaging any healthy tissue.
Grant award£210,564
Duration2007 -
2010
Institution University College London
Project TitleThe use of breathing high oxygen-content gas to improve the outcome of prostate radiotherapy
ResearcherDr Roberto Alonzi
SummaryThe use of breathing high oxygen-content gas to improve the outcome of prostate radiotherapy. A small clinical trial testing whether the outcomes of radiotherapy for localised prostate cancer can be improved by using carbogen gas and nicotinamide (vitamin B3) to increase oxygen levels within the tumour.
Grant award£243,712
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution University of Bristol
Project TitleStopping prostate cancer growing and spreading by targeting blood vessels
ResearcherProfessor David Bates
SummaryA basic laboratory study of the molecules controlling blood vessel growth within tumours aimed at finding out whether drugs could be developed to cut off the blood supply to prostate tumours, thereby starving cancer cells of nutrients and oxygen.
Grant award£98,889
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution Institute of Cancer Research
Project TitleCan examining markers in the urine distinguish aggressive from non-aggressive prostate cancers?
ResearcherProfessor Colin Cooper
SummaryA short pilot study, designed to form the basis of a larger clinical trial in future, testing how molecules in urine samples can be measured to help identify aggressive prostate tumours.
Grant award£47,860
Duration2010 -
2011
Institution University of Belfast
Project TitleLiving with and beyond Prostate Cancer: Does more investigation result in better health? A study of the impact on men of increased and variable investigation and treatment of prostate cancer in the island of Ireland.
ResearcherDr Anna Gavin
SummaryA wide-ranging clinical and psychosocial research project studying how the different approaches taken towards prostate cancer investigation and treatment in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have an overall impact on men's health.
Grant award£299,648
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution University of Oxford
Project TitleExploiting defects in prostate cancer for new therapies
ResearcherDr Thomas Helleday
SummaryA laboratory study of DNA repair in advanced prostate cancer cells, to identify whether defects in a pathway known as "homologous recombination" might provide potential new drug targets.
Grant award£248,975
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution University of Belfast
Project TitleA gene therapy treatment for advanced prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Helen McCarthy
SummaryA laboratory study of a new gene therapy system to determine whether it might be able to safely and effectively deliver a toxic gene to advanced prostate tumours around the body while sparing healthy tissue.
Grant award£95,314
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution University of Leeds
Project TitlePre-clinical models of prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Terence Rabbitts
SummaryA laboratory-based project to make a mouse model of prostate cancer for future drug testing that replicates the human disease more faithfully than existing models.
Grant award£245.761
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution University of Newcastle
Project TitleUnderstanding the mechanisms involved in the development of hormone resistant prostate cancer
ResearcherProfessor Craig Robson
SummaryA laboratory study of the androgen receptor protein - a key driver of prostate cancer growth - looking at whether the switch that turns this protein on and off becomes defective when prostate cancer becomes resistant to hormone therapy.
Grant award£195,485
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution University of Ulster
Project TitleA novel role of vitamin D in protecting against prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Paul Thompson
SummaryA translational laboratory-based study to determine whether vitamin D can suppress the generation of testosterone within prostate tumours and may have a role in preventing the progression of advanced prostate cancer.
Grant award£164,754
Duration2010 -
2013
Institution Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital
Project TitleFinding out why the new drug Abiraterone, developed to treat men with advanced prostate cancer, eventually stops working
ResearcherDr Johann be Bono
SummaryA translational laboratory-based study to determine the reasons for abiraterone stopping working and try to reverse this process; also to examine how this information can be used to deliver ‘personalised’ treatments to patients based on the way they respond to drugs.
Grant award£248,028
Duration2009 -
2012
Institution University of Southampton
Project TitleA trial of devices designed to prevent or contain persistent urinary leakage following prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Mandy Fader
SummaryA clinical trial of devices for managing urinary incontinence (leakage from the bladder) when used by men who have persistent leakage after prostate surgery for cancer.
Grant award£106,517
Duration2009 -
2011
Institution Queen's University Belfast
Project TitleUnderstanding the role of bacteria in prostate cancer
ResearcherDr Andrew MacDowell
SummaryThis study aims to detect the bacterium involved in causing acne, known as P.acnes, in the prostate and establish whether long term infection of the prostate with this bacterium may be responsible for triggering cancerous growth.
Grant award£157,943
Duration2009 -
2012
Institution University of Ulster
Project TitleUnderstanding prostate cancer response to the hormone therapy bicalutamide
ResearcherProfessor Stephanie McKeown
SummaryAdvanced prostate cancer is usually treated with hormone therapy, but often the cancer will develop resistance to the drugs and find new ways to continue growing. This project will test other drugs in combination with the hormone therapy bicalutamide to try and control advanced prostate cancer, thus preventing the cancer cells using other pathways to continue to grow.
Grant award£96,401
Duration2009 -
2012
Institution University of Cambridge
Project TitleScreening for novel factors in the prostate cancer response to hormones
ResearcherProfessor David Neal
SummaryHormone therapy for advanced cancer often has a limited period of efficacy due to the cancer becoming drug resistant. The androgen receptor (AR) is a key factor in the development of drug resistance, and this project aims to better understand how AR works and how the cancer develops resistance to hormone therapy treatment.
Grant award£26,000
Duration2009 -
2010
Institution Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital
Project TitleExamination of biomarkers in prostate biopsies from patients in two radiotherapy trials
ResearcherDr Chris Parker
SummaryThis project aims to identify differences in prostate cancer biopsies which will help predict how well radiotherapy will work and also predict the extent of side effects in different prostate tissue types. This will allow doctors to decide how much radiotherapy to use, based on its predicted level of success and the predicted amount of side effects.
Grant award£126,801
Duration2009 -
2011
Institution Imperial College London
Project TitleHow does the enzyme SK1 help prostate cancer spread to other parts of the body?
ResearcherDr Dmitry Pshezhetskiy and Dr Justin Sturge
SummaryThe protein SK1 is more abundant in prostate cancer cells than in normal prostate cells, and this protein allows the cells to grow and move faster, thus allowing the cancer to spread (metastasise). Dr Pshezhetskiy and his team are investigating how SK1 might help prostate cancer cells to move outside the prostate and which drugs are the best ones to use to stop prostate cancer spreading to the bone.
Grant award£123,632
Duration2009 -
2012
Institution Barts and the London School of Medicine
Project TitleThe public face of prostate cancer in the UK
ResearcherProfessor Clive Seale
SummaryThis is a study of the public image of prostate cancer in the media, and how it is reflected in policy documents issued by the government, the NHS and leading prostate cancer organisations. The impact of this public image on men’s experience of prostate cancer will be studied with a focus on ethnic differences. The study will also assess the strategies pursued by organisations campaigning to raise awareness of prostate cancer over the past 20 years.
Grant award£66,295
Duration2009 -
2012
Institution University of Bath
Project TitleA new approach to delivery of super potent drugs to prostate tumours
ResearcherProfessor Mike Threadgill
SummaryThis project is to develop an advanced drug delivery system which will transport a highly toxic chemical in an inactive form through the body directly to the prostate tumour, whereby the chemical will become active and kill the prostate cancer cells. The system will not be toxic to other cells as the drug will only become active when it is triggered by the close proximity of prostate cancer cells.
Grant award£101,992
Duration2009 -
2012