The University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Dr. Peter Wang <\/strong>is on a mission to unlock the mysteries behind a medical diagnosis dreaded by half the planet: prostate cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Along with fellow oncology researchers with whom he’s worked since immigrating from Taiwan 15 years ago, Wang is an emerging expert in the field of cancer genomics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Shortly after joining UMES’ School of Pharmacy faculty in 2016, Wang was one of three researchers awarded a U.S. Patent for a diagnosis and treatment described as \u201cnovel splicing variants of the genes associated with prostate cancer risk and survival.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Much work still lies ahead, Wang said, but peers have signaled that the gene splicing strategy focusing on ribonucleic acid – commonly known as RNA – shows promise in treating a disease that is the third leading cause of death among American men, according to the American Cancer Society. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The numbers are proportionately higher among African-American men, which is of particular interest to Wang and his colleagues who are sharing their findings on how inhibiting aberrant RNA splicing might be the pathway to reducing prostate cancer disparities across racial populations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wang co-authored a 14-page article published online June 30 by the journal\u00a0Nature Communications<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0outlining what researchers have learned trying to measure tumor \u201caggressiveness and drug resistance in African American prostate cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are basically searching for a way to translate what we have discovered into a clinical approach in the future,\u201d Wang said. \u201cOur ultimate goal is: we want to help patients. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the mysteries in human genome is why 20,000 human genes can produce up to one million proteins.\u201d Wang said. \u201cThe key step is called ‘alternative RNA splicing’. It is a process that allows different coded information from the same gene to be selected then ‘spliced’ together.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne single gene could make multiple different proteins,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Accumulating evidence suggests that alternative RNA splicing may have critical roles in various types of diseases, including cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wang and fellow researchers, including Dr. Norman Lee of the George Washington University and Dr. Steven Patierno of Duke University, with whom he shared the recent patent designation, are concentrating on understanding how maintaining accurate RNA messages (by correcting the aberrant RNA splicing) might lead to staving off or possibly curing prostate cancer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Medical science has relied for decades on prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood testing as an indicator men might be symptomatic of prostate cancer. PSA is a protein produced by cancerous and noncancerous tissue in the prostate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As a \u201cbiomarker,\u201d Wang said, PSA test results can be imprecise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe want to find a better way to provide early detection of aggressive prostate cancer, and screening for aberrant RNA splicing seems to be a promising approach\/tool to achieve this,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee, a professor of pharmacology and physiology at the George Washington University’s School of Medicine and Health Sciences, said African Americans not only have a higher incidence of prostate cancer, they also have \u201ca worse prognosis compared to those of European American decent.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n “In trying to understand the genetic basis,\u201d Lee said in a statement promoting publication of the Nature Communications<\/em> article, \u201cwe found that part of it may have to do with differential RNA splicing.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n The journal article goes on to point out, Lee noted, “that \u2026 African Americans with prostate cancer do not always respond to targeted therapies. These drugs were found to be effective in European Americans with prostate cancer and do end up killing off the cancer.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Although socioeconomics is considered a major contributor for prostate cancer disparities, it alone cannot fully explain the cancer disparities observed between different ethnic groups. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lee, Wang and their research teammates have concluded that distinct genetic differences are likely the culprit for \u201ctumor aggressiveness\u201d and “drug resistance” in African American prostate cancers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While Wang continues his research with collaborators, he accepted an appointment to UMES’ faculty because it \u201cprovides me a more-balanced work life. I enjoy doing research, but I also like teaching and interacting with students.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Azah Mohamed<\/strong>, a doctoral student in toxicology from Sudan, has worked as Wang’s research assistant since January and describes him as \u201cso patient, flexible, caring and serious about his work.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe goes over and beyond to make sure you understand the topic,\u201d Mohamed said. \u201cHe is great (with) hands-on work in the lab and makes you feel independent doing your work with great supervision.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Wang’s first visit to campus came about four years ago when he was invited to be a guest lecturer while working as a researcher in the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at the George Washington University. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI had good interaction with UMES pharmacy students,\u201d Wang said of his brief visit. \u201cThey made a good impression.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n He saw the opportunity at UMES as a way to work with students like Mohamad and \u201cstill keep my research interests.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n The next step, he said, is \u201cto validate the ‘splice variants’ in large-scale clinical samples and further translate our finding to precision medicine that can truly help prostate cancer patients.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UMES researcher\u2019s gene splicing idea earns U.S. Patent Thursday, July 13, 2017 The University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Dr. Peter Wang is on a mission to unlock the mysteries behind a medical diagnosis dreaded by half the planet: prostate cancer. Along with fellow oncology researchers with whom he’s worked since immigrating from Taiwan 15 years ago, Wang…Read more A new frontier fighting prostate cancer<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1321,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-1320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1320"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wwwcp.umes.edu\/scm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=1320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}