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Our Faculty Member’s Project on Reducing the Mortality Rate Due to Diseases such as Cancer and Diabetes Was Entitled to Support by TUBITAK

Our university faculty member of the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Dr. Ümmühan DEMIR’s project titled “Investigation of the Anti-Tumor Effect of the PGC-1α-targeted SR-18292 Molecule with Known Anti-Diabetes Effect in Prostate Cancer Cell Models” was accepted. The aforementioned TÜBİTAK 1002 project continues as the thesis of our graduate student Rabia ERDOĞDU.

With this project, it was aimed to contribute to human health and to reduce the death rates due to diseases such as cancer and diabetes by showing the anti-cancer effect of a specific molecule in prostate cancer and bringing the knowledge that it can be a treatment against prostate cancer to the literature.

Despite many studies on prostate cancer treatment in recent years, it has been seen that the treatments that have been approved for clinical use in advanced prostate cancer types (metastatic and castrate-resistant) do not go beyond chemotherapy agents such as Dosataxel and AR signaling pathway inhibitors such as enzalutamide and abiretaron. In addition, the development of resistance to these treatments was observed as a serious problem. Considering this situation, it was seen that new treatment approaches are still needed to reduce health risks. The anti-cancer effects of anti-diabetes drugs have been tried and demonstrated many times over. Specifically, it has been reported in the literature that prostate cancer has some common mechanisms with type 2 diabetes. Important metabolic activities such as glucose production have an important role in the tumor microenvironment of type 2 diabetes and prostate cancer. In this project, it was aimed to find the anti-tumor effects of a molecule designed for anti-diabetic purposes, SR-18292, in prostate cancer. Mitochondrial metabolic activities were suppressed by SR-1829 molecule, PGC-1α. The potential for this molecule to become an anti-cancer drug is thought to be high in prostate cancer. The SR-18292 molecule, whose anti-cancer effect has been shown only in one type of cancer, was aimed to be tested in prostate cancer for the first time with this project. The tumor suppressive effects of SR-18292 will be investigated for the first time in prostate cancer cells, and specifically, SR-18292 in prostate cancer; It was aimed to investigate the effects of tumor growth, 3D culture formation, migration-invasion, colony formation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Thanks to these studies, it was aimed to reduce the mortality in humans due to cancer and diabetes within the scope of global goals.

We congratulate our faculty member and student for their contributions to the treatment of diseases and wish them continued success.

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