Andrew N. Makarovskiy, M.D.
Research Assistant Professor, Principal Investigator, 617.636.6382
The Urology Research Laboratory studies prostate stem cell lineage and how the resident adult prostate tissue stem cells become involved in malignant prostate tissue growth. The long-term goals are to develop new molecular tools and therapeutic approaches to target and eliminate tumor-initiating stem cells in the prostate, while sparing normal tissues. Current research is focused on understanding normal prostatic stem cell lineage. This knowledge will translate into a better understanding of the stem cells' role in prostate cancer development.
The second research direction is focused on characterizing cellular and molecular mechanisms that allow the proliferation of multinucleated polyploid giant tumor cells. Such cells frequently arise in tumors following treatment using radiation and chemotherapy medication called taxanes, the common prostate cancer treatment. By comparing the gene expression profile of the drug-sensitive and resistant cells, we seek to identify new molecular targets for drug development and modifications of current therapy regimens to preclude tumor survival.