Dana Rathkopf

About Dana Rathkopf

The success of next-generation androgen receptor (AR) inhibitors for treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer validates the critical role played by AR in advanced disease. Unfortunately, patients develop resistance to AR-targeted therapy. One proposed mechanism of resistance to AR inhibition is through dysregulation of a central cellular signaling pathway known as PI3K. Research from Dr. Neal Rosen’s group and other laboratories has shown that PI3K and AR are the two most frequently activated signaling pathways in prostate cancer. These signaling pathways regulate each other through reciprocal feedback such that inhibition of one activates the other, leading to treatment-resistance and cancer progression. Dr. Rathkopf is conducting preclinical and initial clinical investigation of combination therapies for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer, a significant unmet medical need.