Towards understanding and modulating epigenetic rewiring in AR-indifferent PCa (Phillip Thienger, PhD student)
This project seeks to understand the lineage plasticity of AR-indifferent PCa, which will help create therapeutic approaches that can delay or inhibit terminal forms of PCa and lead to earlier co-targeted therapies prior to disease progression. In preliminary work, we have identified chromatin remodeling complexes, such as the SWitch/Sucrose Non-Fermentable (SWI/SNF) complex, to be associated with lineage plasticity and disease progression in PCa. We posit that it is necessary to study the underlying mechanisms of how the SWI/SNF complex regulates and orchestrates lineage plasticity and other processes that lead to therapy resistance. Further, we have developed a close collaboration with Bob Yauch from Genentech Inc. to identify novel biomarkers and epigenetic therapy approaches for advanced prostate cancer.
This project received support from Roche and the Bern Center of Precision Medicine.
