Co-Investigator: Karen Knudsen, PhD–Associate Professor, Department of Cancer Biology and Urology at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University
Co-Investigator: Adam Dicker, MD, PhD–Professor, Chairman of Radiation Oncology, Director of Christine Baxter Research Laboratory for Experimental Cancer Therapies, Co-Director Radiation Research and Translational Biology Program at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University
Radiation Therapy to Block “Self-Seeding” of Circulating Tumor Cells
Prostate cancer is a devastating disease that originates within the prostate gland, and subsequently disseminates throughout the body. A major goal of this project is to validate the concept that there is an ongoing relationship between the original tumor within the prostate gland, and the disseminated cancer cells in other parts of the body. Dr. Dicker and Dr. Knudsen are investigating whether radiation therapy of the primary tumor in advanced prostate cancer has a deleterious effect on the survival and growth of distant metastatic lesions in the bone. To test this they have successfully created a novel animal model of metastatic prostate cancer and have designed an apparatus that can deliver focal radiation therapy to the mouse prostate (a very small organ) only and not the rest of the animal. Currently, the team from Thomas Jefferson University is using these tools to definitively demonstrate whether or not local control of the primary tumor via radiation therapy will have a clinical benefit for patients with metastatic disease.