Damon Runyon scientists have been on the cutting-edge of prostate cancer research for the last two decades.  Our scientists:  

• contributed to the development of the experimental prostate cancer vaccine Provenge, which significantly increased the survival rate of men with advanced prostate cancer in a clinical trial.  The drug is currently being evaluated for approval by the FDA. 
• found that the immune system can be prompted to attack cancer cells when a vaccine is administered at the initial time of hormone therapy.
• identified a protein complex that may be a key player in prostate tumors, suggesting that blocking the formation of this complex could be a promising strategy for new cancer drugs.
• found that prostate cancer turns deadly when it reaches the spine because the spine is rich in transferrin, a protein which spurs prostate tumor cells to grow rapidly. 
• developed a new urine-based screening test for diagnosis of prostate cancer, which may someday replace traditional PSA testing.

Damon Runyon is currently funding several scientists that are researching ways to better diagnose, treat and cure prostate cancer.  These researchers are:

• applying genomic technologies to better understand the biology and clinical behavior of prostate cancer.  Their work has demonstrated that the expression of a small group of genes can be used to predict the recurrence of prostate cancer following surgery. 
• defining key mechanisms underlying resistance of prostate cancer to hormone treatment with the goal of developing novel treatments that can be rapidly moved into the clinic. 
• utilizing high-throughput screening to identify new genes that control the tumor suppressor protein, PTEN, in prostate cancer.  The goal is to gain a better understanding of how prostate cancer is initiated.