# PEG-Prom Mediated Theranostics for Prostate Cancer

> **NIH NIH P50** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $212,222

## Abstract

The goal of this proposal is to develop a platform technology for detection and therapy of prostate cancer (PCa) based on induced cancer-specific expression of target proteins. In the US active surveillance is being reconsidered as an option for local disease due to the increasing recognition that many men undergo unnecessary prostatectomies. The idea behind active surveillance is that there is an indolent form of PCa that will never metastasize and will therefore not pose a major threat to the patient. There is no way to differentiate indolent from aggressive disease - no marker or panel of markers, no imaging agent to follow the course of the disease in vivo reliably. One approach is that, since it is nearly impossible to determine which tumors will progress, they should all be treated, and preferably when they are small, before they further de-differentiate and begin to metastasize. But they should not all be treated surgically, due to the well-known co-morbidities for resection of PCa, even with modern, nerve-sparing techniques. Recently the US Preventive Services Task Force issued a draft recommendation statement against prostate-specific antigen (PSA) screening for all age groups. The recommendation states that "PSA-based screening results 
in small or no reduction in PCa-specific mortality and is associated with harms related to subsequent 
evaluation and treatments, some of which may be unnecessary." That underscores the need for new, 
sensitive biomarkers for PCa, which can be used along with PSA history to provide suitable, tailored therapy. 
We propose a radical new method for detecting and treating PCa, whether it is localized, just beyond the 
capsule or widespread and metastatic to bone. The method relies on the discovery of a gene promoter, 
known as the progression elevated gene-3 (PEG-Prom), which is up-regulated in cancer and only cancer, 
i.e., it remains quiescent within normal or even immortalized normal tissue. When cloned in front of an 
imaging reporter or a therapeutic gene, these latter genes become activated only in the presence of 
malignancy - including PCa. We will deliver PEG-Prom systemically in a non-viral vector to relevant 
experimental models of PCa to delineate and concurrently eradicate it, specifically.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10264511
- **Project number:** 3P50CA058236-23S1
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MARTIN G POMPER
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $212,222
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-09-30 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10264511

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10264511, PEG-Prom Mediated Theranostics for Prostate Cancer (3P50CA058236-23S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-01 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10264511. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*