Elahe Mostaghel, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch
Dr. Elahe Mostaghel studies how prostate cancer becomes resistant to therapies that deprive tumors of androgen hormones, such as testosterone, and she is developing new drugs to target them. Androgens act as a fuel for prostate tumors. The first-line treatment for advanced prostate cancer is androgen-deprivation therapy, which shrinks the tumors — but only for a time. She is learning how these prostate tumors begin producing their own androgens, rendering these drugs ineffective. Dr. Mostagel studies the genetic signatures of resistant tumors that may make them vulnerable to new forms of treatment. Using this knowledge, she is developing new personalized medicine approaches for treating men with advanced, treatment-resistant prostate tumors.
Other Appointments & Affiliations
Clinician Investigator, VA Puget Sound Health Care SystemClinician Investigator
VA Puget Sound Health Care System
Associate Professor, Medical Oncology Division
University of Washington School of Medicine
Education
MD, Duke University, 2000
PhD, Duke University, 1999
BA, Harvard University, 1992
Research Interests
Research is focused on the pathways of intra-tumoral androgen steroidogenesis and metabolism, structural alterations in the androgen receptor, the activity of androgen transport proteins, and how alterations in these and other pathways may influence the sequencing of androgen and chemotherapy treatments. An important goal is to determine how patient and tumor-specific alterations in these proteins may be used to predict response to agents targeting these pathways.
Recent Projects
Determining and exploiting mechanisms of AR-mediated suppression of cell proliferation and survival
Identifying druggable modulators of response to high-dose testosterone treatment
Preclinical studies: Activity of novel Sigma1 inhibitors in the LuCaP prostate cancer xenograft models
Steroid transport proteins in castration resistant prostate cancer
Looking beyond CYP17A: optimizing next-generation steroid-synthesis inhibition in castration resistant prostate cancer
Exploiting mechanisms of response and resistance to next generation androgen pathway antagonists
Pharmacogenetic determinants of intratumoral abiraterone exposure
Exploiting synergy to optimize taxane sensitivity in prostate cancer
Toward the practice of precision medicine: a biomarker validation coordinating center
"We're going to get better about our understanding of cancer therapy and how to target it. … That's the future."
— Dr. Elahe Mostaghel