Chang Receives Patent for Prostate Cancer Treatment Method

This month, Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D. received a U.S. patent for a new way to treat and prevent the recurrence of prostate cancer. 

In his description Chang notes that patients who are treated with the commonly used method of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) often experience a return of the disease, even after remission.

This second wave of prostate cancer has no known cure and there are few treatment options available. According to the patent, Chang’s method can reduce the chance of recurrence of prostate cancer in patients who have been treated with ADT. To do this, patients are given an anti-androgen agent that prevents cancer cells from rapidly multiplying.

Chang lists several anti-androgen agents that can be used in this way to suppress cancer growth, one of which is ASC-J9, a chemically modified derivative of ginger. One of the most significant findings in this patent is that the cancer-fighting chemotherapy drug cisplatin is able to re-sensitize cancer that is resistant to the anti-androgen drug, enzuluamide.

This is the third patent for Chang, who is the George Hoyt Whipple Distinguished Professor of Pathology, Urology, and Radiation Oncology at URMC and Wilmot Cancer Institute.

Bethany Bushen | 10/28/2016