Prostate Cancer Foundation Announces 2017 PCF Challenge Awards to Accelerate the Development of New Treatments for Advanced Prostate Cancer

WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) today announced awards totaling $7.5 million to fund new 2017 PCF Challenge Awards supporting international, cross-disciplinary teams of investigators conducting pioneering research into critical, unmet medical needs in areas that have the highest potential for impacting and extending lives of men with advanced prostate cancer. This year's awards include innovative research projects - such as testing several novel radiation-emitting prostate cancer-targeting treatments in advanced prostate cancer and studying prostate cancer from U.S. veterans to better understand the biology of the disease and answer important questions about treatment for lethal prostate cancer. The announcement was made at the 24(th) Annual PCF Scientific Retreat.

"We are proud and excited to fund these eight teams who will be conducting life-saving research for patients with prostate cancer," said Jonathan W. Simons, MD, president and chief executive officer, PCF. "The research conducted by these teams will change the face of how we view the treatment landscape of prostate cancer and have the potential to result in cures even for men with very advanced disease who previously had no further treatment options available."

As part of PCF's commitment to accelerating research and innovation in prostate cancer, Challenge Award teams are required to include at least three investigators, one of whom must be a young investigator, defined as researchers within six years of completing research or medical training programs. The awarded teams were selected from a pool of 92 international applications following a rigorous peer review process that assessed each project's scientific merit and potential impact for patients. These eight teams will join six previously announced 2017 Challenge Award teams in the PCF research portfolio that were funded in partnership with the Movember Foundation.

The following teams were selected to receive 2017 PCF Challenge Awards:

    --  Optimization of Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-Targeted Radiation
        ($1 million); this team led by Scott Tagawa, MD, Neil Bander, MD, and
        Shankar Vallabhajosula, PhD (all of Weill Cornell Medicine and
        NewYork-Presbyterian) will conduct clinical trials to test the efficacy
        of several highly promising new and unique PSMA-targeted
        radiation-emitting treatments in advanced prostate cancer. This team
        includes researchers from Tulane University, Harvard: Dana-Farber Cancer
        Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, and Icahn School of
        Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital.
    --  Harnessing Synergies Between 177-Lutate Therapy and Olaparib to Improve
        Clinical Outcome of Men with Metastatic Castration Resistant Prostate
        Cancer ($1 million); this team led by Shahneen Sandhu, MBBS, Rodney
        Hicks, MD, MBBS, Michael Hofman, MBBS, Scott Williams, MD, MBBS, Carleen
        Cullinane, PhD, ScD, John Violet, MBBS, PhD, and Paul Neeson, PhD, ScD
        (all of Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre) will conduct a clinical trial
        testing the efficacy of a novel radiation-emitting prostate
        cancer-targeting treatment, 177-Lu-PSMA, in combination with the
        PARP-inhibitor olaparib, in men with advanced prostate cancer. This team
        includes researchers from Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, St Vincent's
        Hospital, Kinghorn Cancer Centre, and Monash University.
    --  Elucidating mechanisms of Effectiveness and Resistance to Prostate
        Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) Targeted Radioligand Therapy (RLT)
        Using 177-Lu-PSMA-617 ($1 million); this team led by Johannes Czernin,
        MD, and Caius Radu, MD (both of University of California, Los Angeles)
        will conduct preclinical studies and clinical trials testing the
        efficacy of 177-Lu-PSMA-617, a novel radiation-emitting prostate
        cancer-targeted therapy, in advanced prostate cancer.
    --  Curing Lethal Non-Castrate Prostate Cancer: Integrative Molecular
        Analysis for Mechanisms of Exceptional Response, Resistance and
        Recurrence ($1 million); this team led by Howard Scher, MD (Memorial
        Sloan Kettering Cancer Center) and Mary-Ellen Taplin, MD (Harvard:
        Dana-Farber Cancer Institute), will develop a precision medicine
        approach for treating prostate cancer patients with high-risk localized
        disease or low-volume metastatic tumors with a potentially curative
        regimen that includes an intense combination of androgen-targeted
        therapies, followed by maximal treatment of the primary tumor. This team
        includes researchers from Harvard: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
        and Harvard: Brigham and Women's Hospital.
    --  Multiplatform Profiling of Lethal Prostate Cancer in the Veterans
        Affairs Population ($1 million); this team led by Isla Garraway, MD, PhD
        (University of California, Los Angeles), Beatrice Knudsen, MD, PhD
        (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center), and Peter Kuhn, PhD (University of
        Southern California) will profile mutations and genes expressed in
        prostate cancer samples from U.S. veterans throughout the course of
        treatment to identify mechanisms and biomarkers of prostate cancer
        progression and treatment resistance. This team includes researchers
        from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Greater Los Angeles Veterans
        Affairs Healthcare System.
    --  Targeting BRN2 in Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer ($1 million); this team
        led by Amina Zoubeidi, PhD (Vancouver Prostate Centre; Vancouver Coastal
        Health Research Institute; University of British Columbia) and Himisha
        Beltran, MD (Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian) will
        develop a novel therapy targeting BRN2, a driver of the highly
        aggressive neuroendocrine subtype of prostate cancer, and will develop
        biomarkers to identify patients who may benefit from this treatment.
        This team includes researchers from Simon Fraser University.
    --  Clinicopathological Correlation and Molecular Signature Identification
        and Risk Stratification of Prostate Cancer in African American U.S.
        Veterans, With and Without Exposure to Battlefield Chemicals ($1
        million); this team led by Jeffrey Jones, MD, MSc and Michael Ittmann,
        MD, PhD (both of Baylor College of Medicine and Michael E. DeBakey
        Veteran Affairs Medical Center) will study prostate cancer samples from
        U.S. veterans to better understand the biology of prostate cancer in
        African American men and to elucidate the effects of exposure to
        battlefield chemicals such as Agent Orange on the development and
        progression of prostate cancer. This team includes researchers from The
        University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
    --  SEARCH: Survivorship Enhancement in Men with Prostate Cancer At Risk for
        Poor Cognitive Health During Treatment with ADT ($515,000); this team
        led by Alicia Morgans, MD, MPH (Northwestern University) and Charles
        Ryan, MD (University of California, San Francisco) will develop methods
        to measure whether androgen-targeted treatments for prostate cancer
        increase risk for cognitive decline, develop biomarkers to identify men
        at risk, and test an intervention to prevent further cognitive decline
        in patients undergoing treatment. This team includes researchers from
        Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

About the Prostate Cancer Foundation
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world's leading philanthropic organization funding and accelerating prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993, PCF has raised more than $715 million and provided funding to more than 2,000 research programs at more than 200 cancer centers and universities. The PCF global research enterprise now extends to 19 countries and funds a robust research portfolio. PCF advocates for greater awareness of prostate cancer and more efficient investment of governmental research funds for transformational cancer research. Its efforts have helped produce a 20-fold increase in government funding for prostate cancer. For more information, visit www.pcf.org.

Connect with PCF: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

CONTACT:
Katelyn O'Reilly
W2O Group, on behalf of the Prostate Cancer Foundation
310-774-3438; Koreilly@w2ogroup.com

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SOURCE Prostate Cancer Foundation