Bristol
Principal Investigator: Professor Jenny Donovan
The Bristol ProMPT group comprises University of Bristol staff from several Departments (Social Medicine, Clinical Sciences, and Biochemistry). Bristol is the co-ordinating centre for the ProtecT (Prostate testing for cancer and Treatment) study, a collaboration between the Universities of Sheffield, Bristol and Cambridge in which 120,000 men aged 50-69 years are being tested for prostate cancer. It is expected that 3,000 men will be found to have prostate cancer and these will be followed up for 10-15 years. Much of the ProMPT research in Bristol is based on data and samples obtained during the recruitment and trial stages of the ProtecT study. In the Department of Social Medicine, these data and samples are being used to investigate the epidemiology of prostate cancer at the molecular and clinical level. For example, associations between prostate cancer and molecules in the insulin growth factor (IGF), vitamin D and folate systems, and associations between symptoms, prostate-specific antigen levels and prostate cancer. Research in the Department of Biochemistry focuses on the role of Rho GTPases and interactions between IGF-IR and EGFR systems in prostate cancer cells. Bristol is also the site of the MRC Centre for Causal Analyses in Translational Epidemiology (CAiTE), which will conduct studies using candidate genes as tools to investigate prostate cancer aetiology and to identify risk factors for prostate cancer development and progression.
Grants & Funding Information
Association of factors in the folate metabolic pathway with prostate cancer incidence and progression.
Dr Richard Martin has been awarded £147,971 from the WCRF, along with co-investigators Professor Jenny Donovan, Professor Freddie Hamdy (Sheffield), Professor David Neal (Cambridge), Dr Chris Metcalfe, Dr Athene Lane, Dr Sarah Lewis, Professor George Davey Smith, Professor David Smith (Oxford), Professor Helga Refsum (Norway). The grant is due to start in March 2008 until Feb 2011.
Association of circulating vitamin D metabolite levels with incidence and progression of screen-detected prostate cancer
Dr Richard Martin has been awarded £149,367 from WCRF, along with co-investigators Professor Jenny Donovan, Professor Freddie Hamdy (Sheffield), Professor David Neal (Cambridge), Dr Athene Lane, Dr Chris Metcalfe, Professor WD Fraser (Liverpool), and Professor George Davey Smith. The grant started in November 2007 for 3 years.
Alcohol and prostate cancer: identifying potentially modifiable lifestyle-related causes of cancer by means of Mendelian randomisation
Dr Luisa Zuccolo has been awarded £183,657 for an MRC Training Fellowship. The fellowship commenced on 1st September 2006 and runs for 4 years.
The IGF system in prostate cancer aetiology and prognosis: a large population-based cohort study
Dr Richard Martin has been awarded £424,054 from Cancer Research UK, along with co-investigators Professor Jenny Donovan, Professor Freddie Hamdy (Sheffield), Professor David Neal (Cambridge), Professor Jeff Holly, Dr Steven Oliver (York), Dr Kate Tilling, Professor David Gunnell, Dr Chris Metcalfe, Dr Athene Lane and Professor George Davey Smith.The grant started on 1st January 2007 until 31st December 2009.
PromPT (Prostate Cancer: Mechanisms of Progression and Treatment
£150,000 from the MRC for epidemiological research . The grant started on 1st January 2007 until 31st December 2009.
ProtecT Study
£14.4 million from the NHS HTA Programme to complete recruitment, and for the first five years of follow up, for the ProtecT study. The grant is due to start in June 2008 until December 2013.
CAP Study
Martin RM, Donovan JL, Hamdy FC, Neal DE, Noble S, Lane A, Sterne S, Metcalfe C, Ben Shlomo Y, Oliver S, Wolstenholme J, Brindle P, Evans S. Evaluating population-based screening for localised prostate cancer in the United Kingdom: the CAP (Comparison Arm for ProtecT) study. Cancer Research UK Project grant (C18281/A8145). Jan 2007 to Dec 2009. £931,232.
