Susanna F. Greer: The state of prostate cancer is changing

Susanna F. Greer shared a post on LinkedIn, about paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal:

Single-cell analysis of treatment-resistant prostate cancer: Implications of cell state changes for cell surface antigen–targeted therapies.

Authors: Samir Zaidi, Jooyoung Park, Joseph M. Chan, Martine P. Roudier, Jimmy L. Zhao, Anuradha Gopalan, Kristine M. Wadosky, Radhika A. Patel, Erolcan Sayar, Wouter R. Karthaus, D. Henry Kates, Ojasvi Chaudhary, Tianhao Xu, Ignas Masilionis, Linas Mazutis, Ronan Chaligné, Aleksandar Obradovic, Irina Linkov, Afsar Barlas, Achim A. Jungbluth, Natasha Rekhtman, Joachim Silber, Katia Manova-Todorova, Philip A. Watson, Lawrence D. True, Colm Morrissey, Howard I. Scher, Dana E. Rathkopf, Michael J. Morris, David W. Goodrich, Jungmin Choi, Peter S. Nelson, Michael C. Haffner, Charles L. Sawyers.

”Prostate cancer is a disease where cells in the prostate gland grow uncontrollably. In recent years, researchers have developed treatments that target specific proteins on the surface of prostate cancer cells, like tiny flags that help identify and attack them. But not all prostate patients’ cancer cells have the same flags, and these flags can change over time, especially in aggressive forms of cancer. So, selecting which patients will benefit most from these treatments requires understanding how these proteins vary among patients.

This incredibly cool study from the V Foundation Grantee Dr. Michael Haffner and team at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center showed that traditional methods don’t fully capture the variety of cancer cell types, especially in advanced prostate cancer. Dr. Haffner and colleagues found that specific gene patterns can help oncologists more accurately diagnose and treat prostate cancer by understanding these cell surface proteins.

Imagine trying to hit a moving target that also changes its appearance frequently. This is one challenge oncologists face when treating prostate cancer. To better understand their ‘target,’ The Haffner group analyzed prostate cancer cells from patients and mice. They found that the cancer cells were much more diverse than expected, with different types of cells showing up in the same tumor. This diversity means that a treatment targeting one type of cell might miss others.

One of the main discoveries the team made was that the level of certain proteins on the surface of cancer cells also varied widely, even among patients with the same type of cancer. These protein markers are crucial, because they are the targets for many new therapies. If a patient’s cancer cells don’t ‘have’ the ‘right’ markers, or if the markers change over time, the treatment might not work as well.

Bottom line: this study suggests that current methods of classifying prostate cancer might be too simplistic. By using more detailed analyses, oncologists can get a better picture of a tumor’s makeup. This could lead to more personalized and effective treatments and allow therapies to be chosen based on the specific characteristics of each patient’s cancer.

By understanding the diverse and changing nature of cancer cells, we can improve the chances of finding the right treatment for each patient, potentially leading to better outcomes and longer survival. I love this paper, these findings, this research. Awesome job Dr. Haffner!

You can read Dr. Haffner’s paper here and find the lab here.”

Source: Susanna F. Greer/LinkedIn

Susanna F. Greer is the Chief Scientific Officer at the V Foundation. Before this role, Dr. Greer was a Senior Scientific Director at the American Cancer Society, where she led the Biochemistry and Immunology of Cancer Research Program. Greer’s work focuses on identifying crucial signaling pathways in the immune response to cancer and has led to significant discoveries in molecular immunology and new epigenetic targets.