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uwindsor scientists receive grant for prostate cancer research
according to the canadian cancer society, about one in nine canadian men will develop prostate cancer during their lifetimes
jul 11 2021
1 minute read
university of windsor professor lisa porter is shown on campus on feb. 25, 2019.
dan janisse
/
windsor star
by: mary caton
two university of windsor scientists who specialize in cancer research have received a $30,000 grant to discover better ways to diagnose prostate cancer.
lisa porter and john trant are developing imaging processes that help oncologists distinguish between different types of prostate cancer.
the new imaging agents would be used in conjunction with colonoscopies, allowing for a more precise diagnosis and shorter wait times than those typical of using a pet scan.
the research grant is from the windsor cancer centre foundation’s seeds4hope program.
since its inception in 2009, seeds4hope has awarded $2.3 million to cancer research projects.
according to the canadian cancer society, about one in nine canadian men will develop prostate cancer during their lifetimes. last year, more than 23,300 canadians were diagnosed with prostate cancer. about 4,200 will die from it each year.
“the mortality numbers are lower than they used to be as survival has significantly improved thanks to the development of both targeted therapies and prostate cancer-specific imaging agents,” porter said in a media release.
porter and trant say the imaging could be vastly improved in order to distinguish between the various types of prostrate cancer.
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prostate cancer generally begins as hormone-sensitive adenocarcinoma, a disease treated by reducing the body’s production of testosterone and other hormones. the cancer can evolve and become resistant to the treatment. a second line of therapy can be used, but the cancer can evolve further into an even more aggressive form.
“our project aims to develop a pair of probes that can distinguish between prostate cancer that is hormone sensitive and prostate cancer that has become treatment resistant,” trant said in a university statement about the grant. “it can also help determine if a cancer is progressing from one stage to another.”
trant and porter have collaborated on projects tackling the most aggressive forms of the disease and have received funding both provincially and nationally for their work.
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