Urology
Our Team
Our Researchers
Chawnshang Chang, Ph.D.
Research Overview
Dr. Chang and his research team focus mainly on the role of androgen receptors in various androgen related diseases, especially prostate cancer.
Androgen is the male hormone, responsible for male sexual traits (such as the beard). A receptor is a substance or structure in a cell that acts as a "relay" for instructions or messages sent by other cells. It receives these messages, then transmits them to other cells, causing some sort of reaction within the body. Thus, the androgen receptor is the relay for messages from androgen (for example, stimulating the beard to grow). Dr. Chang was the first scientist to clone human androgen receptors.
Androgen, or the over-production of androgen, has been implicated as a cause of prostate cancer. Antiandrogens are substances that suppress the production of androgen or interfere with its effects, usually by blocking androgen receptors. Antiandrogens have been an effective way to prevent the recurrence and spread of prostate cancer. But sometimes cancer cells adapt, so that instead of being "androgen dependent" - and dying when androgen production is stopped - they become "androgen independent" and actually feed on the antiandrogens. Dr. Chang 's work with androgen receptors has helped us understand more about how this happens, and he continues to study this area.
Currently, Dr. Chang is also leading several projects investigating the role of androgen and androgen receptors in the functioning of and diseases of the prostate, testes, breast and bladder. Some of these studies use unique, genetically engineered mice developed in Dr. Chang's lab. These studies involve the role of androgen receptors in prostate, bladder, liver, and breast cancer - and in other, non-urological areas, including the immune system, male and female fertility, and baldness and acne.
The ultimate goal is to develop better antiandrogens (that cancer cells can't "adapt to," so they don't become androgen independent) and more effective anti-cancer drug therapies.
Faculty Title
- George Hoyt Whipple Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
- Professor of Urology and of Biochemistry
- Director, George H. Whipple Laboratory for Cancer Research
Education
University of Chicago - Ph.D. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 1985
University of Chicago - Post-doctorate Fellow, Molecular Endocrinology, 1988
Recent Publications
Editor: Androgen and Androgen Receptor (2002)
Editor: Prostate Cancer (Basic Mechanisms and Therapeutic Approaches) (2005)
Contact Information
George Whipple Lab for Cancer Research
University of Rochester
School of Medicine and Dentistry
601 Elmwood Ave, Box 626
Rochester , New York 14642
Medical Center room #: 1-6536
Phone: (585) 275-9994
Fax: (585) 756-4133
Email: chang@urmc.rochester.edu