This is one of the largest projects we’ve funded to date that uses some of the smallest technology available to make significant advances in treating prostate cancer.

This is one of the largest projects we’ve funded to date that uses some of the smallest technology available to make significant advances in treating prostate cancer.

Cancer metastasis is when cancerous cells leave the main tumour in the prostate gland and spread throughout the body. This condition is associated with the advanced stages of prostate cancer and can be extremely difficult to treat, causing serious complications for the patient. It can be difficult to treat as these prostate cancer cells that have left the main tumour travel around the whole body, and so are difficult to locate, and the chemotherapy drugs can’t tell cancerous cells apart from normal, healthy ones.

Far from the realms of science fiction, nano-technology and nano-medicine are very real methods of drug delivery and can play a vital role in the future of treatment for prostate cancer.

This project aims to research the applications of nano-medicine for chemotherapy drug delivery, specifically to the prostate cancer cells that spread to the rest of the body. Using tiny (10,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair) objects called ‘nano-carriers’ to carry prostate cancer specific chemotherapy drugs, they can remain in the body for a much longer period of time, increasing the chances of locating the cancerous cells, before they are broken down and rendered ineffective. This increases the effectiveness of the drugs immensely. Also they only become active when they come into contact with the cancerous cells, reducing their side effects on normal, healthy tissue drastically. This will lead to a better quality of life for the individual receiving the treatment and a better outlook for the future.

Dr Wafa Al-Jamal has been funded entirely by the Movember Foundation, via Prostate Cancer UK, to run her own lab, and lead this pioneering and essential research project. This is one of the first two Career Development Fellowships that Prostate Cancer UK has ever awarded. To put this in perspective, only 20% of the post-doctoral scientists in the world receive funding to set up and run their own labs, so this grant is a truly huge step forward for the world of prostate cancer research. Wafa has now recruited her team and we look forward to some conclusive results in the near future – stay tuned.

This is a project we should all be proud of, as without every single Mo Bro and Mo Sista getting involved and doing their bit for Movember, this would not have been possible; nor would any of the other 831 funded programmes the Movmeber foundation has funded. Like the nano-carriers in Wafa’s research, even the smallest contribution to Movember can be significant. Every Mo matters and just by signing up for Movember 2014 you can help change the face of men’s health.

Click here to see the report cards for our funded programmes.

Click here to learn more about this project on the Prostate Cancer UK’s website.