About The Institute for Prostate Cancer Research
A collaboration of UW Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Prostate cancer is prevalent and deadly. One out of every six men will develop prostate cancer at some time in their lives. Roughly 230,000 men in the United States will be diagnosed with the disease this year, and in the same 12 months, approximately 30,000 men will die of it.
Thankfully, prostate cancer often can be treated or controlled. Eighty percent of prostate cancers that are caught early have not spread to other parts of the body, and many are treatable. However, 30 percent of these local tumors recur and another 20 percent of newly diagnosed prostate cancers already have spread to other parts of the body. We must do more.
The Institute for Prostate Cancer Research (IPCR), a collaborative effort of University of Washing-ton Medicine and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), brings together an expert team of scientists and clinicians whose mission it is to understand prostate cancer, to devise therapies and new technologies, and — one day — to help find a cure.
Our mission
The IPCR calls on the strengths of some of the country’s brightest stars in prostate cancer research and treatment to fulfill a three-part mission:
- to understand prostate cancer in order to improve diagnosis and treatment;
- to provide effective, individualized therapy for patients;
- and to extend and enhance the quality of a patient’s life upon diagnosis.
To achieve this mission, the IPCR is:
- studying potential preventive agents;
- developing new biomarkers for early diagnosis and therapy selection;
- improving surgical and radiation therapy techniques;
- exploring the mysteries of prostate cancer metastasis to bone and creating new methods for treating it;
- understanding hereditary and acquired gene defects to develop better detection and therapy strategies;
- and conducting innovative clinical trials to bring new discoveries to the bedside.
A history of success
Since the IPCR’s formation, its faculty have secured more than $40 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health. In addition, the IPCR received one of only 11 Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) grants from the National Cancer Institute to study prostate cancer progression. Receiving this level of NIH funding constitutes a tremendous accomplish-ment and demonstrates the excellence of our faculty members and their work.
Together, IPCR researchers already have:
- identified and/or assembled up to 80 percent of the genes expressed in prostate cancer;
- developed one of the largest serum tissue banks in the world;
- undertaken some of the most advanced studies of bone biology and skeletal metastases;
- assembled information from more than 300 families with hereditary prostate cancer;
- and developed many new therapeutic strategies, such as better hormone therapies for advanced disease and better methods for cancer prevention.
Outstanding faculty
Together, the IPCR’s investigators are an impressive bank of talent, making UW Medicine and FHCRC formidable partners in the race for the cure. And together, they provide hope for
prostate cancer sufferers in the Northwest and around the world. The IPCR brings together more than 35 advanced-degree leaders, experts in their fields and
experts at collaboration.