Elizabeth Platz, ScD, a professor in the department of epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and co-PI Alan Meeker, PhD, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, received a $1.7 million, four-year grant from the National Cancer Institute, aiming to inform the identification and treatment of potentially lethal prostate cancer.
This study will test the hypothesis that senescent prostate stromal fibroblasts promote lethal prostate cancer. Senescent fibroblasts may result from telomere attrition or other aging and non-aging mechanisms. The results of this study on stromal cells are expected to enhance existing cancer cell-based genomic prognostic tests, as well as provide information for testing novel therapeutics that eliminate senescent stromal fibroblasts in men who are at risk for progression to, or already harboring metastatic disease.
Platz and Meeker’s multidisciplinary team science research uses patho-epidemiology approaches to understand the mechanisms underlying the incidence and progression of cancer, including prostate. They conduct their collaborative research with an eye toward translation of findings into cancer prevention and treatment strategies.
