| Research
Interests Prostate cancer is
the second most common cancer affecting men in the USA, and
treatment options are limited. Androgens regulate the rate
of growth and differentiation in normal and cancerous
prostate tissue. For this reason, androgen receptor
antagonists and drugs that decrease the circulating
androgens are used in the early stages of prostate cancer.
However there is a high degree of relapse in spite of the
low androgen environment produced by these drugs. This has
been attributed to the presence of prostate cancer cells
which are resistant to androgen therapy, especially in the
advanced stages of the disease.
Our research focus is on the discovery of chemical entities
from natural and synthetic sources with efficacy against
these prostate cancer cells. Our synthesis and
structure-activity studies have yielded potent
naphthoquinone analogs with significant efficacy against
prostate cancer cell lines. In our natural products program,
we have isolated chemical entities (mainly indoloquinoline
compounds) from plant sources which also exhibit significant
activity against prostate cancer cell lines. Studies are
ongoing in our laboratory to determine the biochemical
mechanisms underlying the potent activities of these
compounds and their synthetic analogs against prostate
cancer cell lines. |
