Blocking PTPN1 to fight hormone‑resistant prostate cancer
Official title: Overcoming mechanisms of PTPN1 driving therapy- and castration- resistant prostate cancer with novel theranostics
Funded at Ut Southwestern Medical Center · NIH-11238970 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project looks for ways to block a protein called PTPN1 that helps some prostate cancers stop responding to hormone treatments, with the goal of finding new treatment or detection options.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Ut Southwestern Medical Center NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Dallas, United States) |
| Project start | December 1, 2024 |
| Project end | November 30, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $474,892 |
| NIH project number | 5R01CA295762-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11238970 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Men with advanced or metastatic prostate cancer that no longer responds to anti‑androgen therapy, especially those with neuroendocrine features, would be the most relevant patient group for this work.
✕Less likely to help
Men with early, hormone‑sensitive prostate cancer or unrelated health conditions are unlikely to see direct benefits from this preclinical research in the near term.
What this research studies
From a patient perspective, researchers will study how anti‑androgen treatments change the PTPN1 gene and how that change can push prostate tumors to a more aggressive, treatment‑resistant form. The team will use lab-grown tumor cells and genetically modified animal models to track how PTPN1 drives this switch and whether reducing PTPN1 can reverse it. They will also explore 'theranostic' approaches that could combine a therapy and a diagnostic marker tied to PTPN1. The work is preclinical but is aimed at identifying targets and tools that could eventually lead to new drugs or tests for men whose cancer no longer responds to standard hormone therapy.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the research could point to new treatments or tests that stop or detect castration‑resistant and neuroendocrine prostate cancers earlier and more effectively.
How similar studies have gone: Prior laboratory and animal studies suggest PTPN1 plays a role in prostate cancer progression, but targeting PTPN1 as a therapy or diagnostic is largely untested in humans and remains novel.
Where this research is happening
-
Ut Southwestern Medical Center
Dallas, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Hsieh, Jer-Tsong — Ut Southwestern Medical Center
- Study coordinator: Hsieh, Jer-Tsong
Related research
Other NIH-funded projects on the same topics.
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Understanding how aggressive cell states emerge in castration-resistant prostate cancer
A research project aims to uncover the hidden cell states that help prostate cancer resist standard therapy and how these states arise early in tumor development.
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Enhancer RNA CYP11A1-eRNA in castration-resistant prostate cancer
Researchers are testing a new RNA-based target, CYP11A1-eRNA, to see if blocking it can hamper the growth of castration-resistant prostate cancer in the lab and animal models.
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Targeted Immunostimulatory Dual Drug Conjugates for Heterogeneous Metastatic Prostate Cancer
Researchers are testing a targeted therapy approach to help people with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer by boosting the immune system and delivering drugs directly to cancer cells.
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Androgen Receptor Action in Prostate Cancer that Stops Responding to Therapy
This grant supports research to understand why certain prostate cancers stop responding to AR-targeted therapies and to find new ways to target them.
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Hyperactive methylation in a hard-to-treat prostate cancer subtype
Researchers are studying a newly identified methylation-heavy group of advanced prostate cancer to understand its biology and find clues for better treatments.
-
Therapeutic Targeting of Lineage Plasticity in Advanced Prostate Cancer
A cancer research effort aimed at understanding and tackling how aggressive prostate cancers become resistant to standard AR-targeted therapies.
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.