2016 V Foundation Wine Celebration Vintner Grant
in honor of Launny and Weezie Steffens
The initial treatment of men with prostate cancer is highly successful in stopping the primary cancer. However, years later men often develop cancer again and it is commonly deadly. One explanation for cancer returning is that the cancer was sleeping and in doing so, it was not affected by the first medicine. Our team discovered a new treatment to put cancer to sleep in the body. By using laboratory tests and information from patients, we discovered a “fingerprint” that can tell us if and how the cancer is sleeping or growing. However, for reasons that remain unclear, the sleeping cancer eventually awakens in a deadly form. We discovered that using known medicines we could keep the cancer asleep. We propose to use these medicines that are available for other diseases to induce an constant sleeping state in cancer, preventing its awakening. We will also find new indicators of the sleeping or growing state of cancer using a blood test. If successful, our new treatment to keep cancer sleeping may provide a new cure for men with prostate cancer.
