Cytokines are instant messengers of the immune system, alerting our body foreign substances. For diseases such as prostate cancer, cytokines represent potential therapeutics. In our study, we will investigate how a particular cytokine, called interleukin-27 (IL-27) can trigger killing of prostate cancer cells. Additionally, cytokines are critically important for orchestrating immune responses against cancer cells. Since cancer cells evolve to effectively hide from the body’s immune system, it is important to discover effective ways to make cancer cells more visible to our immune cells. We have shown that IL-27 promotes expression of receptors in prostate cancer cells that raises “red flags” that can alert immune cells to help destroy the prostate cancer cells. Therefore, the hypothesis of this project is two-fold: 1) IL-27 can directly enhance death of prostate cancer cells, and 2) IL-27 can enhance immune activity against prostate cancer cells. This work is significant because we will investigate the therapeutic potential of IL-27 alone and in combination with clinically relevant drugs.3.Scientific a