Protein-glycan interactions in the regulation of the immune privilege in prostate cancer

Gabriel Rabinovich, Diego Laderach, Daniel Compagno, Mariana Salation & Marta Toscano, Instituto de Biologia y Medicina Experimenta, Argentina

While localised, prostate cancer can be cured; metastasis and advanced prostate cancers continue to be a significant therapeutic challenge because they are still incurable.  Our project seeks to identify new molecular targets to prevent metastases.

Few previous studies mention the potential implications of certain galectins in tuning the induction of tolerance to prostate cancer antigens, but the role of these small but essential proteins in vivo is still unclear.  Our aim is to assess the role of the most representative members of this intriguing lectin family during prostate cancer progression.

Comparing the glyco-phenotypes at different stages of the disease from a cohort of patients may determine first if the expression of (a) particular galectin(s) or glycosylation signature is associated with the patient clinical outcome.  Second, assessment of glycan or galectin expression will determine whether they can be used as predictive biomarkers of metastatic risk so that adapted treatments can be proposed.  Third, our studies might contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in immune activation/tolerance that allow prostate cancer progression.  We postulate that the over-expression or invalidation of some galectins could influence the incidence of prostate cancer immune tolerance.  We will also attempt to explore the association between galectins and the endocrine status in tumour-bearing hosts.

Altogether, our findings might contribute to the design of novel therapeutic strategies which in combination with current treatments will be of clinical benefit in advanced prostate cancer.

Project commenced
February 2009

Length of project

3 years

Amount Supported
£100,000