Targeted therapies and biomarkers in advanced prostate cancer

There is a need to determine critical targets in the mechanisms of prostate carcinogenesis, progression and metastasis, and to evaluate these as prognostic and predictive biomarkers and as novel targets for diagnosis and therapy.

We aim at integrating clinical and pre-clinical research to sharpen diagnostics and to develop rationally designed molecular-based therapies for implementation through clinical trials in precision medicine.

We focus on translational research from bench to bed and vice versa with particular interest in the role of combination therapies to overcome treatment resistance in prostate cancer.

The current application represents our ongoing accomplishments and a continuation of a translational project previously granted by the Swedish Research Council.We will evaluate prognostic and predictive biomarkers for integration in clinical models to predict outcome and response to treatment in advanced prostate cancer.

We will continue to develop, validate and benchmark inhouse artificial intelligence-based algorithms designed for digital pathology, molecular imaging and for biomarker evaluation.

We will continue in vitro and in vivo development of targeted therapies of advanced prostate cancer based on druggable targets such as the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) in tumor cells and in immune cells using synthetic small molecules and investigate the value of combination therapies to overcome resistance mechanisms