# Michigan Prostate SPORE

> **NIH NIH P50** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $351,000

## Abstract

Since inception in 1995, the University of Michigan (U-M) Prostate SPORE has endeavored to tap the vast
intellectual and physical resources of the U-M community to decrease the morbidity and mortality of prostate
cancer (PCa). In this renewal application, U-M joins forces with Karmanos Cancer Institute (KCI) to propose a
“Michigan Prostate SPORE” leveraging our institutions' respective areas of strength. KCI has a non-overlapping
patient population as U-M, which includes an underserved population. The Michigan Prostate SPORE supports
an interactive group of basic and clinical investigators in a translational research program that has led to major
discoveries in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of PCa. Successful translation of discoveries in the
most recent grant period include: 1) The ETS gene fusions (which were discovered by this SPORE program)
have been established as a urine test for the early detection of PCa (JAMA Oncology 2017 3:1085) and have
been therapeutically targeted with peptidomimetic inhibitors (Cancer Cell 2017 31:844). 2) Our SPORE program
played a significant role in defining the clinically actionable landscape of metastatic castration-resistant prostate
cancer (mCRPC) (Cell 2015, 162:454) which led to the discovery that upwards of 20-25% of mCRPC harbor
defects in DNA repair genes. As part of the TO-PARP study, we showed that mCRPC patients with DNA repair
defects preferentially respond to PARP inhibitors (NEJM 2015, 373:1697). 3) Established that BET bromodomain
inhibitors may be useful in the treatment of advanced PCa by blocking oncogenic transcription factor activity
(Nature 2014, 510:278). 4) Several PCa-associated long non-coding RNAs, including PCAT1, Schlap1 (Nature
Genetics 2013 45:1392), and ARlnc1 (Nature Genetics 2018, 50:814) were discovered and characterized. These
bench-to-bedside applications were aided by horizontal collaborations with the University of Washington,
Dana Farber, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, and Weill-Cornell Prostate SPOREs as well as the EDRN and vertical
collaborations with SWOG and biotech companies. This application consists of four projects: Project 1:
Targeting mCRPC Patients with Biallelic Loss of CDK12; Project 2: Integrating a Novel MiPS-Based Next-
Generation Sequencing Urine Assay for the Early Detection of Unfavorable Risk PCa; Project 3: Exploring
Ablation of the Androgen Receptor as a Therapeutic Approach for mCRPC; Project 4: Targeting Autophagy in
the Treatment of mCRPC. These projects are complemented by strong, ongoing institutional commitments of
money and space, successful Career Development and Developmental Research Programs, and three
cores: Administration, Biostatistics/Bioinformatics, and Biospecimen/Pathology. The Michigan Prostate
SPORE continues to place premiums on rigorous scientific review of its translational research programs, pairing
of basic and clinical investigators, drawing on expertise of scientists from within and from outside the PCa field,
and uti...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10319640
- **Project number:** 3P50CA186786-08S1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** ARUL M CHINNAIYAN
- **Activity code:** P50 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $351,000
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2014-09-11 → 2023-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10319640

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10319640, Michigan Prostate SPORE (3P50CA186786-08S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10319640. Licensed CC0.

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