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Junior research group leader Dr. Anne Fassl from the Department of Urology at Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt has been awarded a Young Investigator Award 2025 by the U.S.-based Prostate Cancer Foundation for her research into the interaction between genes and the immune system in advanced prostate cancer. The award includes three years of funding totaling the equivalent of EUR 195,000.
FRANKFURT. Nearly one in four cancer diagnoses in Germany involves the prostate gland. In her project funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation, Dr. Anne Fassl is investigating a specific form of prostate carcinoma in which one copy of a particular gene – the BRCA2 gene – is defective from birth and in all cells of the body. This gene supports the repair of DNA damage.
Because the BRCA2 gene is present in two copies in every cell, it becomes critical only when an additional, acquired mutation damages the second copy as well, causing the affected cell to lose an important checkpoint for DNA repair. As a result, mutations can accumulate, eventually causing the cell to lose control over cell division. Since the immune system eliminates aged and damaged body cells, the emerging cancer cells must also evade immune surveillance in order for a tumor to develop.
In advanced prostate cancer – when the tumor has formed metastases outside the prostate – newer therapeutic approaches pursue a dual strategy. On the one hand, a protein called PARP, which is also important for DNA repair, is specifically inhibited. In tumor cells that are already pre-damaged due to the defective BRCA2 gene, this leads to such extensive DNA damage that the cells die. PARP inhibition is complemented by drugs that lift the immune system blockade imposed by tumors, known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. This is intended to enable the immune system to support tumor control.
The problem is that cells of the immune system themselves also possess only one intact copy of BRCA2. Whether this affects the response to therapy is what Fassl is investigating in her newly funded project, “Evaluating the impact of BRCA2 immune cell heterozygosity on therapeutic approaches for advanced prostate cancer.” Her aim is to test various drug combinations in laboratory experiments to identify particularly promising therapeutic options.
Professor Felix Chun, Director of the Department of Urology at Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt, says: “Anne Fassl is a very talented scientist, and I congratulate her on this award. The Young Investigator Award underscores the great potential of her research on genetic alterations of the immune system in the context of prostate cancer therapy. The funding will enable Anne Fassl to further establish herself in the field of prostate cancer research, as her work is expected to make a significant contribution to gene-based, personalized treatment of people with prostate carcinoma in the coming years.”
Dr. rer. nat. Anne Fassl studied biology in Leipzig and earned her doctorate at the German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg. After postdoctoral positions at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston, she was recruited from the United States to Frankfurt as a junior research group leader by the Mildred Scheel Career Center Frankfurt–Marburg and has been conducting research at the Department of Urologyat Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt since 2023. Building on her research and her postdoctoral experience at Harvard Medical School, she focuses in Frankfurt on precision medicine for hormone-driven tumors, with a particular emphasis on prostate and breast cancer.
The non-profit Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is a global leader in supporting and funding prostate cancer research. Since its founding in 1993, it has provided around USD 1 billion for cutting-edge research in more than 2,000 projects at 245 leading cancer centers in 28 countries. The PCF’s Young Investigator Awards program identifies promising early-career researchers and provides career and project support for innovative research ideas aimed at combating prostate cancer. By specifically promoting the next generation of leading researchers in this field, the program seeks to enable longer survival, fewer complications, and a higher quality of life for people affected by the disease worldwide.
Dr. rer. nat. Anne Fassl
Head or Research Laboratory
Department of Urology
Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt
Tel.: +49 69 6301 - 80073
anne.fassl@unimedizin-ffm.de
https://www.uct-frankfurt.de/msnz/fellows/anne-fassl.html
Dr. rer. nat. Anne Fassl, Department of Urology at Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt, receives the Prost ...
Source: private
Copyright: Goethe University Frankfurt
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