Participants
| Code: | 7 |
| Short name: | Innsbruck Medical University |
| Name: | Urology |
| Department: | |
| Description: |
Consortium task: Prof.Culig’s team will be involved in the target discovery around the AR axis (I) and target validation (IV). Track record: Prostate cancer and prostate disease are in the focus of research interest of the experimental urology laboratory. The research groups of Zoran Culig (zoran.culig@uibk.ac.at) and Helmut Klocker (helmut.klocker@uibk.ac.at) have been involved in the study of androgen receptor signalling in prostate cancer and have made major contributions to a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in development of therapy resistance in prostate cancer. Major scientific contributions of these researchers include characterization of a first androgen receptor mutation discovered in prostate cancer tissue, establishment of the concept of non-steroidal activation of the androgen receptor by growth factors and cytokines, and demonstration of the presence of androgen receptor in metastases of therapy-resistant prostate cancer. Current research of Helmut Klocker is focused on alterations in apoptotic pathways in long-term androgen-ablated cells and changes in gene expression after down-regulation of androgen receptor by anti-sense oligonucleotides. Zoran Culig´s current work is about the role of interleukin-6 in prostate cancer progression and identification of androgen receptor co-activators involved in development of therapy resistance. Helmut Klocker and Zoran Culig have been invited to several international conferences and received numerous awards for their scientific work on prostate cancer. The activities of the urological laboratory also include routine work (tumor markers, steroid and peptide hormones determinations) and PSA analysis and the organization of the Tyrolian screening program for early detection of prostate cancer (The Tyrol Screening Project). A large collection of serum specimens of patients with prostate diseases is available for analysis of serum markers. Through joint cooperation with the Department of Pathology (Prof. Hermann Rogatsch) a well characterized collection of fixed and frozen specimens from radical prostatectomies and from transurethral resection of the prostate has been established. |
| Address: |
Innsbruck Medical University
Department of Urology Anichstrasse 35 6020 Innsbruck Austria |
| Website Organization: | http://www.uibk.ac.at/unis-index-en.html |
| Website Department: | http://www.uro-innsbruck.at/Projektordner/index.htm |
| Logo: |