Researchers at U.Va. The grant will be used to study how prostate cancer progresses from a localized, slow-growing tumor to one that develops rapidly. This research seeks to understand how that change occurs. Once we determine that, we hope to prevent malignant progressions from occurring and develop more effective therapies. Like all cancers, prostate cancer is a disease of uncontrolled cell growth.
Cancer cells grow unpredictably, ignoring the warnings to which other cells respond.
However, prostate cancer cells eventually develop the ability to grow and spread independent of hormone levels. At this stage, the disease is very difficult to control and treatment options are limited. Aside from skin malignancies, prostate cancer is the most frequently occurring of all cancers. The American Cancer Society estimates in 1999 approximately 179,300 new prostate cancer cases will be diagnosed in the United States and 37,000 American men are expected to die from the disease. Cancer Center has established a team of doctors and scientists to treat and study prostate cancer.