Androgen receptor overexpression, chromatin, and castration resistant prostate cancer

2^nd World Congress on Cancer Science & Therapy

September 10-12, 2012 Hilton San Antonio Airport, USA

Alfonso Urbanucci

AcceptedAbstracts: JCST

Abstract :

The molecular mechanisms of prostate cancer are yet to be completely understood. There is a clear need to identify factors involved in the emergence of the advanced, and still non curable form of the disease, that is nowadays called ?castration resistant prostate cancer (CRPC)?. The androgen receptor (AR) is the main drug-target of nowadays used treatments against this disease. AR is a nuclear receptor that targets about 2% of the genome. However, only few target genes are known to be involved in disease progression. To identify the driver AR target genes, involved in the emergence of CRPC and treatment resistance is fundamental for generating new drugs for this disease. These genes can also be further evaluated as possible biomarkers, especially in the current perspective of achieving personalized medicine for patients. The majority of CRPCs overexpresses AR. Thus we created a cell-model to mimic the disease and we used it in order to investigate the effect of AR overexpression on chromatin structure and target genes expression.

Biography :

Alfonso Urbanucci has completed his Ph.D in January 2012 from the University of Tampere in Finland, in the group of Professor Tapio Visakorpi. He is now a postdoctoral fellow in the Centre for Molecular Medicine Norway, under the supervision of Dr. Ian Mills. He has published 10 papers in reputed journals.