2019 Robert Citrone, George Walker, & Mark Weinberger – PCF VAlor Young Investigator Award
Employing murine models with humanized immune systems to study therapeutic approaches for advanced prostate cancer
Steven Kregel, PhD, MSc
University of Michigan
Mentors: Weiping Zou, Arul Chinnaiyan, Ajjai Alva
Description:
- The promise of immunotherapy as an effective and potentially curative treatment option for prostate cancer has yet to be realized. Currently, there are no animal models that can properly model interactions between the immune system and human cancer. The development of such models would greatly accelerate cancer immunotherapy research.
- Steven Kregel will develop a murine model of human metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) that can be used to study patient responses to immunotherapy as well as anti-androgen therapies.
- In this project, Dr. Kregel will develop and characterize a series of patient-derived prostate tumor models representing different disease subtypes in huNOG mice, a new mouse model with intact human immune systems.
- The impact of androgens and anti-androgen therapies on the immune system and on prostate cancer growth and progression will be evaluated using these models and validated using patient samples.
- Kregel will also identify mechanisms of response and resistance to immunotherapies using these models and patient samples, including the impact that anti-androgen therapies have on responses.
- If successful, this project will develop the first immune-competent model of metastatic human prostate cancer and determine how hormonal therapies impact responses to immunotherapy.
What this means to patients: Dr. Kregel will develop an animal model that can be used to accurately study interactions between human prostate cancer and the intact immune system, and will enable researchers to evaluate strategies to optimize treatment with immunotherapy.