ORANGEBURG, S.C. — The American Cancer Society says cases of prostate cancer are on the rise. In fact, the rates are up by about 3 percent each year.
Now, a prostate cancer research project will be conducted at South Carolina State University, thanks to a grant from the National Cancer Institute.
Dr. Courtney Thomas is a biochemistry professor at South Carolina State University and received a grant for over $715,000 for prostate cancer research.
Her research is focused on a protein found in cells that she believes can help kill cancerous cells.
“A lot of African Americans specifically are still dying from prostate cancer. Part of that is not getting an early diagnosis," Thomas said. "My work is just trying to study a protein that kinds of helps the body to identify the cells that are cancerous, and I’m trying to figure out how does that protein function as a signal to kill the cancer.”
The project will take on research students, both paid and volunteer, over the next 5 years.
Maleik Bell is one of those students. He says this research is important.
“While researching prostate cancer, we’re just figuring out what the difference could be between a Black male or a white male and to see if there’s any difference with that race being a variable or is it just something else," Bell said. "I just feel like it's really interesting, especially since African American males, they typically pass due to this cancer, and finding something to help us out since I’m also an African American male. I think that’s really nice, too.”
Thomas says that receiving a grant of this magnitude helps with the university’s recruitment.
“People know you. Students want to come to your school faculty, want to teach at your school. So, if we can get grants that are internationally known, then that will draw more researchers and more students who are interested in research to come to the school," Thomas said. “It’s a big deal to put South Carolina State University on the map, and just HBCUs in general, to show that we are capable of doing quality research and producing quality results."
The American Cancer Society estimates over 299,000 new cases of prostate cancer this year across the country.