KGH researchers working to develop
new prostate cancer test
2012 Aug21
Men with prostate cancer could soon know
precisely how serious their disease is - and
how aggressively to treat it - the moment
they are diagnosed, thanks to a new team of
researchers at KGH.
"We hope to create a test so accurate that
patients don't need to consider surgery or
radiation unless it's really needed," says
Jeremy Squire, Research Chair in Molecular
Pathology at KGH and Professor in the
Department of Pathology and Molecular
Medicine at Queen's University.
Squire heads up the research team along
with recent recruits Paul Park and Paulo
Nuin, both adjunct assistant professors. As
members of the newly formed Canadian
Prostate Cancer Biomarker Network
(CPCBN), they are joining investigators from
across the country who are working to create
a test that could augment - or altogether
replace - the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA)
test currently used.
And thanks to a recent $4 million
funding boost to the network via the Terry
Fox Research Institute and the Canadian
Partnership Against Cancer, a new test
could be close at hand.
Adding further momentum, Nuin
and Park have secured two grants
amounting to $300,000 from the Prostate
Cancer Canada Pilot Grants for Young
Investigators. The funding will go a long
way to "creating significant research
discoveries at KGH", says Squire.
squireparknuin2012aug.htm
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