Boost for prostate cancer research in the north
Posted on 11 May 2001
Prostate cancer, recently described as 'the most mysterious of cancers', is the most common malignancy found in men, and is the second most common cause of cancer death. 17,000 men in the UK are diagnosed each year with the disease, and 10,000 die. However, relatively little is known about what causes the disease, and how it develops.
This research group aims to find out the biochemical and molecular reasons why prostate cancer spreads around the body and intends to develop new forms of treatment targeted at these molecular abnormalities. Large-scale treatment trials will be carried out . The group would also like to discover new markers of the disease that may better identify patients at risk of cancer. The funding from The Medical Research Council will be used to augment the substantial support provided to York by Yorkshire Cancer Research, including a new, purpose-designed suite of research laboratories at the University, due to open in 2002.
It is hoped that finding the origins and causes of prostate cancer will lead to better screening and treatment of prostate cancer and to the development of diagnostics to predict different forms of the disease.
Notes to editors:
- The YCR Cancer Research Unit at the University of York was set up in 1980 by the Yorkshire Cancer Research Campaign, recently renamed Yorkshire Cancer Research (YCR), which is an independent charity dedicated to funding cancer research within the county of Yorkshire. The Unit's achievements in prostate research made headlines earlier this year when, by introducing genetic material into male prostate cancer cells developed in the laboratory, the cancer cells were made to 'commit suicide'.
- The YCR Cancer Research Unit has also recently discovered the structure of the protein that controls the papillomavirus - the principal cause of cervical cancer
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