SPORE in Prostate Cancer: Pilot Project: Ti02-DNA Nanoparticles for Prostate Therapy

DESCRIPTION(provided by applicant)This SPORE application submitted in response to the RFA from the NationalCancer Institute, will take advantage of the strengths in prostate cancerresearch and treatment that exist at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive CancerCenter. The SPORE will provide the infrastructure to bring together basicscientists and clinicians to rapidly test new approaches in the prevention,early detection, diagnosis and treatment of human prostate cancer. Thespecific themes of the SPORE are: 1. Cell and molecular biology of prostate cancer2. Prevention and risk factors in prostate cancer development3. Prostate cancer innovative therapeutics and rehabilitation4. Quality of life and outcomes research in prostate cancer The SPORE application consists of six principal research projects, threecareer development projects, five pilot projects and four Core facilities tosupport the research. The principal research projects are: 1) Clusterin andresistance to apoptosis (Lee), 2) Suppressive role of calreticulin inprostate cancer (Wang), 3) Prostate cancer dependent generation of angiostatin4.5 (Soff), 4) Molecular mechanisms of erectile dysfunction (McVary), 5)Effects of lycopene on prostatic tissue (Gann), 6) Quality of life itembanking in prostate cancer (Cella). The Core facilities include:Administration, Tissue Resource, Clinical and Biostatistical Cores. Theinvestigators selected to be part of the SPORE Program come from a variety ofdisciplines ranging from Clinical Programs to Chemical Engineering, Pathologyand Chemistry. To maintain meaningful communication between investigators, wewill have monthly meetings of SPORE investigators, an annual retreat andmonthly meetings of the Executive Committee. Based on the infrastructuredescribed, our large patient population and our track record of productivity,we believe that the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center is well suitedfor the SPORE program.