Robert Den
About Robert Den
Radiation therapy in combination with medicines that block testosterone (hormonal therapy) is a common treatment for locally advanced prostate cancer. However, a subset of these patients will not be cured with this treatment and an understanding of the mechanisms of radiation treatment failure is urgently needed. One cause of resistance to radiation treatment might be the loss of a gene called retinoblastoma (RB), which acts in normal tissues to suppress cancer. Dr. Den will investigate the role of RB loss in radiation resistance. He will explore the mechanisms of RB loss during hormonal and radiation therapy in model systems. This work could establish RB as a biomarker for radiation sensitivity and allow physicians to better select patients who have a higher likelihood of being cured by this very common treatment.
Award
The 2010 Ben Franklin – PCF Young Investigator Award
Robert Den, MD
Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University – Philadelphia, PA
Co-Mentor
Karen Knudsen, PhD, Associate Professor, Departments of Cancer Biology and Urology at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University.
Co-Mentor
Adam Dicker, MD, PhD, Interim Chair and Professor, Radiation Research and Translational Biology, at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University.