"When considering prostate cancer genomics, there is nothing more significant than identifying new vulnerabilities in the disease – targets that can be exploited with new drugs to put patients into lasting remissions. A team of researchers led by Karen Knudsen, PhD (Thomas Jefferson University) has done just that—their studies revealed that a single molecule called DNA-PK drives cancers from a slow growing, benign disease into a killer.
Under normal conditions, DNA-PK, along with half a dozen other molecules, helps to combat routine DNA damage. However, Dr. Knudsen’s team found that it also helps cancer cells evade many forms of treatment. In men with prostate cancer, they discovered, DNA-PK molecules are recruited by the androgen receptor (AR), which are responsible for feeding male hormones to tumor cells, allowing these mutated cells to survive. By identifying DNA-PK as a key mechanism of metastasis, the team’s research has enormous clinical implications with the potential to impact thousands of prostate cancer patients."
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