Standard therapy for prostate cancer, the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in American men, is based on blocking androgens, the male sex hormones. However, for some men, prostate cancer recurs despite androgen-deprivation therapy. A team of scientists led by Irwin Gelman, PhD , Professor of Oncology in the Department of Cancer Genetics at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, has identified an 11-gene signature unique to advanced recurrent prostate cancer that they believe will help to identify these aggressive and potentially fatal prostate cancers sooner. The findings have been published online ahead of print in the journal Oncotarget.

Predisposition to cancer and cancer progression can result from gene mutations that cause elevated rates of genetic damage. Similarly, carcinogens, including some that are used in chemotherapy during cancer treatment, act by damaging the DNA. A new study from Roswell Park Cancer Institute offers insights into the mechanisms that can lead to genetic mutations and proposes opportunities for developing prognostic tests for specific blood disorders and blood cancers based on these striking findings.

Metastatic prostate cancer, or prostate cancer that has spread to other organs, is incurable. In new research published in the journal Science, Roswell Park Cancer Institute scientists have identified two gatekeeper genes that allow prostate cancer to progress and resist treatment. Their work illuminates the mechanisms behind lineage plasticity, the ability of prostate cancer to adapt to therapy, and highlights opportunities to disrupt and even reverse this deadly process.

Forty-one physicians from Roswell Park Cancer Institute are included in the Castle Connolly Medical, Ltd. prestigious America’s Top Doctors® list in 2017. The annual directory offered by the healthcare research and information company is designed to help guide consumers to America’s top doctors.

One of the main reasons cancer remains difficult to treat is that cancer cells have developed a multitude of mechanisms that allow them to evade destruction by the immune system. One of these escape mechanisms involves a type of immune cell called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). A recent study led by Sharon Evans, PhD, Professor of Oncology and Immunology at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, provides new insight into how MDSCs circumvent immune attack and offer the potential for improving cancer immunotherapy. The research has been published today in the journal eLife.

The Erie County Sheriff’s Office and Buffalo Police Department (BPD) snipped, clipped and shaved their way to cancer cures today, raising a collective $39,400 to support cancer research and patient-care programs at Roswell Park Cancer Institute through the Goin’ Bald for Bucks program.