These new therapies include chemotheraputic drugs, gene therapies and receptor antagonists. Dr. Coffey is a professor of urology, cancer biology and pharmacology at Johns Hopkins University. He previously held senior positions at the Children's Defense Fund and Common Cause. The NPCC is a coalition of survivors, advocates and organizations that seek to increase the federal commitment to prostate cancer research and to eradicate prostate cancer as a health concern for men and their families. Apoptosis The nine investigators who presented their results in this session focused recent research on apoptosis, the process by which cells are programmed to die.
Cancer cells have defects in the apoptotic pathway which lead to tumor development and progression.
Researchers are designing treatments to return cells to a normal apoptotic state which will induce these cells to die naturally. Dr. Isaacs is a professor of oncology and urology at Johns Hopkins University. A graduate of Emory University, Dr. Isaacs has published widely on the role of programmed cell death in the progression of prostate cancer. Dr. Isaacs's lab is defining the cascade of cellular and molecular events involved in programmed cell death. These studies have focused on identifying potential therapeutic mechanisms for activating the apoptotic pathway in tumor cells to program their normal death.