Characterization of a senescence response that occurs during cancer therapies in prostate cancer cells

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in Canadian men and the third deadliest. If the majority of PCa are well treated using first line treatments like surgery, radiation and/or androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a proportion of cases (10%) progress to metastatic cancer. At cellular level, cancer cells can initiate alternative responses to treatment varying from rapid programmed cell death to a state of growth arrest called senescence. Recent studies suggest that the specific proprieties develop by the senescent cells could be exploited to sensitize the cancer cells to the conventional therapies. We propose in this study to characterize the senescence phenotype induced by the first line therapies in prostate cancer cells and to use additional drugs targeting senescent cells to improve the efficiency of the current therapies.

Faculty Supervisor:

Francis Rodier

Student:

Partner:

Institut du cancer de Montréal;Corporation AbbVie

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Other services (except public administration); Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Université de Montréal

Program: