Justine Bruce

About Justine Bruce

New therapeutics are urgently needed for hormone resistant prostate cancer when it emerges. Some patients with evidence of metastatic disease may receive chemotherapy while the same therapy for asymptomatic patients may be delayed. Dr. Bruce is interested in developing new targeted medicines for a large population of patients that show no evidence of metastatic disease, but whose PSA continues to rise following hormonal treatment. This clinical situation is called a hormone resistant biochemical recurrence, and over 20,000 U.S. men are in that situation at any given time. A novel experimental agent, TRC105, which is under clinical investigation at a biotechnology firm named Tracon, may hold promise for patients with advanced disease. TRC105 is a monoclonal antibody against the endoglin protein found on the surface of tumor blood vessel cells. TRC105 blocks the proliferation of vascular cells required for tumor blood vessel growth, cutting off the tumor’s nutrient supply—preventing disease progression. Dr. Bruce will utilize advanced molecular imaging methods include PET/CT scans to monitor tumor responses in patients treated with TRC105 and assess its overall efficacy.