Identification of Molecular Receptors for Therapeutic Targeting in Prostate Cancer

摘要

Prostate cancer is a difficult disease to treat due to its molecular heterogeneity and diverse clinical outcomes. Current therapies for treating and diagnosing prostate cancer are unsatisfactory, suggesting that new strategies and molecular markers are greatly needed. Tumor cells express specific cell surface receptor complexes for rapid growth and survival. Specific receptor- ligand complexes have profound biological functions such as cell signaling and growth. For example, androgen receptor complex plays a critical role in prostate tumor growth and response to hormone therapy. We propose to identify new receptor-ligand pairs for prostate cancer. We have developed a sophisticated targeting system to probe the tumor vasculature in vivo by phage display technology. We plan to inject phage peptides libraries into prostate tumor-bearing mice to identify specific peptides targeting to the tumor and not to the normal tissues. The tumor-specific peptides will be recovered and analyzed by molecular and biochemical methods. The tumor-specific peptides will be used as a bait to identify and clone the binding receptors by affinity chromatography and biochemical cell fractionation approaches. If we are successful, we will identify new biologically relevant receptor-ligand pairs that may be developed for therapeutic applications for prostate cancer.