Marja T. Nevalainen, MD, PhD

Research in the Nevalainen laboratory focuses on therapy development for prostate cancer which is the most common non-skin cancer in men in Western countries with the prevalence of more than 3 million currently in the US. Localized prostate cancer is typically treated by surgery or radiation therapy. However, approximately 30% of prostate cancers treated with curative intent recur – often as systemic (metastatic) disease. If prostate cancer has metastasized at the time of diagnosis, the treatment options often focus on hormone therapy (androgen deprivation) or chemotherapy as palliative treatment strategies. Therapy resistance develops relatively rapidly through multiple complex molecular mechanisms leading to a lethal disease. Our work is focused on understanding mechanisms underlying resistance to hormone therapy and radiation therapy with particular interest in Jak-Stat5 signaling with the goal of development of secondary therapies for recurrent prostate cancer after the initial treatment strategies fail.