Desai Sethi Urology Institute Researchers Garner Prostate Cancer Foundation Awards
Summary
- Desai Sethi Urology Institute’s Dr. Nima Sharifi and Dr. Zhipeng Wang were named recipients of Prostate Cancer Foundation grants.
- Dr. Sharifi’s award will be used to investigate why androgen deprivation therapy can encourage therapy resistance.
- Dr. Wang’s research focuses on how the body’s own metabolism may slow prostate cancer growth and reveal new treatments.
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) selected research led by Nima Sharifi, M.D., Desai Sethi Urology Institute (DSUI) scientific director and professor of urology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and a member of Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, for its 2025 Challenge Awards Program, which includes $1 million in grant funding over two years. The foundation also named Zhipeng Wang, Ph.D., assistant professor of urology at the Miller School and also a member of Sylvester, the 2025 Young Investigator Award recipient, resulting in $75,000 in grant support for each of the next three years.
Challenge Accepted for Innovative Prostate Cancer Research
For its Challenge Awards, PCF selects experienced investigators working collaboratively to conduct innovative prostate cancer research.
“We’re pushing the boundaries in two areas in prostate cancer for this award,” said Dr. Sharifi, the study’s principal investigator. “We aim to better understand why androgen deprivation therapy, which is commonly used to block androgens in advanced prostate cancer, leaves residual androgens that can drive therapy resistance. Furthermore, we will use advanced mapping technology to identify tumor cells that make these residual androgens in order to determine how an individual cancer patient should be treated based on how his tumor makes androgens.”
Miller School co-investigators on the study are:
• Sanoj Punnen, M.D., DSUI’s professor of urologic oncology and vice chair of research
• Brandon Mahal, M.D., associate professor of radiation oncology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
• Pedro F. S. Freitas, M.D., a DSUI clinical instructor
“We have drugs that block production of androgens from the testes and adrenal glands, both of which are important for driving prostate cancer progression and lethality. The problem is that, despite use of the drugs, some androgens remain in tumor tissue. It’s not clear where they come from or how they’re made,” Dr. Sharifi said.
Dr. Sharifi and colleagues believe they are beginning to understand this treatment dilemma and will use the grant to further establish their thinking, which does not involve the usual testicular and adrenal pathways. Researchers will then develop something that doesn’t yet exist in mainstream prostate cancer care—spatially mapping out where these residual androgens are located in the space of the tumor.
“What we learn and develop from this funding could lead to new drug targets and medications, as well as biomarkers that determine how an individual patient should be treated,” Dr. Sharifi said.
Harnessing What the Body Does Naturally to Fight Prostate Cancer
Dr. Wang’s research also ushers a new direction in prostate cancer research. His work, however, focuses on cancer biology.
“Our project’s focus is to understand how the body’s own metabolism—specifically, the natural process of ketogenesis—may slow prostate cancer growth and open the door to new treatments,” Dr. Wang said. “This grant will allow us to study the lysine acetoacetylation (Kacac) mechanism, a recently discovered protein modification driven by ketone bodies.”
While Kacac’s role in cancer growth, resistance and metabolism is unknown, recent studies suggest that ketone bodies may regulate tumor progression. Dr. Wang and colleagues will use advanced chemical proteomics to map Kacac sites in patient tissue samples, define their effects on tumor signaling and identify the enzymes that regulate them.
“This work is much needed because men with metastatic prostate cancer inevitably develop resistance to current therapies, and there is an urgent need for new targets and strategies,” Dr. Wang said. “By exploring Kacac, we can uncover previously ‘undruggable’ vulnerabilities and create opportunities for novel covalent drug development.”
The PCF Young Investigator Award is essential because it provides resources and recognition to launch this new line of research.
“With my background in basic research, this award will encourage me to apply my chemistry and chemical biology expertise toward translational cancer research. Through networking, I aim to build stronger collaborations that will broaden my research impact and accelerate discoveries,” he said. “PCF’s mission to fund promising ideas and rapidly translate them into patient benefit aligns directly with my goal of turning ketone body biology into therapies. Ultimately, I hope to extend survival and improve quality of life for men with metastatic prostate cancer and their families.”
Tags: cancer research, clinical trials, Desai Sethi Urology Institute, Dr. Nima Sharifi, Dr. Zhipeng Wang, prostate cancer