Clinical trials are the best way that APCaRI scientists can move new discoveries from the laboratory to the clinic.
We need you!
APCaRI is part of clinical trials designed to:
1. Develop new tests using blood, urine, semen, or biopsy tissue samples to diagnose if a patient has prostate cancer.
2. Develop new blood tests to predict if a man suspected of prostate cancer can avoid a prostate biopsy.
There are many ongoing clinical trials related to prostate cancer. Please click here to go to the Alberta Health Services website to read more about these trials.
To discover these tests, blood, urine, semen and clinical information from close to 4000 men are required. We plan to enroll patients over a period of 5 years in Calgary and Edmonton.
In Calgary, recruitment will occur at the Prostate Cancer Centre and Tom Baker Cancer Centre. In addition, participants may join the study by contacting the Calgary study coordinator at 403-943-8942.
In Edmonton, recruitment will occur at the Northern Alberta Urology Centre and Cross Cancer Institute. In addition, participants may join the study by contacting the Edmonton study coordinator at 780-407-5914.
Ask your doctor if you are eligible to participate in the study!
Clinical trials are one of the best ways to test new methods to diagnose, treat, manage, and prevent cancer, to ultimately deliver the best treatment and care possible to Albertans facing cancer.
Cancer Control Alberta reduces the impact of cancer on all Albertans and provides expert care and support for patients from their first symptom to survivorship. Supporting world-class research are two specialized teams that operate within the Clinical Trials Units at the Cross Cancer Institute and the Tom Baker Cancer Centre. Each team provides well-trained staff and comprehensive services to researchers who are conducting clinical trials. In addition to the cancer centres, The Prostate Cancer Centre in Calgary and the Northern Alberta Urology Centre in Edmonton are testing advances in diagnosis and treatment to improve quality of life and work towards a cure for prostate cancer.
Konstantin Stoletov and Lian Willetts co-first-authored an article published recently in Nature Communications titled “Quantitative in vivo whole genome motility screen reveals novel therapeutic targets to block cancer metastasis“. These two researchers, along with fellow Lewis lab members and collaborators from the University of Calgary and Vanderbilt University set out to determine what genes and signaling networks are involved in the rate-limiting steps of solid tumour cell motility, in vivo. But the team was hampered by the lack of an effective, quantitative, in vivo imaging platform. They wanted to visualize the movement of tumour cells, or lack of, in real-time AND use this intravital imaging platform to screen a large bank of tumour cells harboring single gene mutations for cells that show a loss of motility.
When tumour cells metastasize they get into (intravasate) the hosts’ bloodstream and use the vascular system like roadways to travel throughout the body. This lets the tumour cells colonize new microenvironments where they will proliferate and form new tumours. So metastatis is really dependent on tumour cell motility. Although there are many different types of solid tumours known, previous research suggests that if the tumour cells can mobilize and metastasize then the expressed motility-related genes share homology across tumour types. This is great news because it would mean that therapeutic targets aimed at stopping motility could also stop metastasis for many tumour types!
Dr. Konstantin Stoletov
Dr. Lian Willetts
The Lewis lab researchers and their collaborators developed an in vivo, fluorescent, time-lapse screening platform that uses shell-less avian embryos for tumour growth and formation. The avian embryo is an excellent tumour model because the tumour cells will grow on the chorioallantoic membrane in a single cell layer, making in vivo cell motility imaging actually doable.
Using this platform the team screened over 30 000 human genes for the ones needed for cell motility and ultimately found 17 genes that looked to be effective metastasis-blocking gene targets. Stoletov, along with other Lewis lab members, are continuing this research by studying these 17 attractive candidates further to determine which one (s) would make therapeutic metastasis-blocking targets.
This article has generated a lot of interest in the scientific community and in the general public! Check out the links below to mentions and articles in the media.
