New research funding to study incurable prostate cancer

One of The Open University's (OU) Open Societal Challenges projects which seeks new approaches to treat an incurable form of prostate cancer has received a Prostate Cancer UK Research Innovation Award.

The three-year Personalised Epigenetic Reprogramming for Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer project, led by Dr Francesco Crea in the OU’s Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, has received just over £640,000 develop a new therapy and a companion diagnostic tool to treat incurable prostate cancer.

The OU leads a team that includes Cancer Research UK Barts Centre, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori (Milan), BC Cancer (Vancouver) and two industrial partners (Volition and ORIC Pharmaceuticals).

Dr Crea said: “Neuroendocrine prostate cancer (NEPC) is an incurable disease, which is resistant to all available treatments.

“We propose to develop the first epigenetic reprogramming therapy for NEPC, using a precision medicine approach.

“Successful validation of our approach would improve the survival rate of patients with the most aggressive form of prostate cancer. This paradigm could be expanded to other EZH2-driven cancers, which are often correlated with advanced stages of human cancer progression and poor prognosis.”

This research builds on Dr Crea’s Open Societal Challenge to improve guidelines for prostate cancer therapy and treatment under the Living Well theme.

The OU’s Open Societal Challenges Programme aims to tackle some of the most important societal challenges of our time through impact-driven research.

The Programme’s focus on the themes of Tackling Inequalities, Living Well and Sustainability align well with the OU’s mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.

The Programme’s aim is to apply excellent research by OU academics to some of the most pressing challenges facing people across the UK and worldwide to transform lives and drive societal change.