Since receiving treatment for early stage prostate cancer in 1993, Ellis Corets has pedaled thousands of miles, generated thousands of dollars for charity and, he hopes, helped to one day defeat the disease that could have killed him.

In addition to founding Pedal for a Purpose, which helps research organizations raise money by recruiting cyclists to collect pledges for established events, Corets is one of nearly 2,000 people nationwide who have participated in the Prostate Cancer Genetic Study. Also known as PROGRESS, the study is conducted by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and the Institute for Systems Biology and partially funded by the Association for the Cure of Cancer of the Prostate.

PROGRESS has enabled researchers to map a region of a gene they named CAPB. CAPB — short for cancer of the prostate and brain — is associated with prostate cancer that runs in families and possibly primary brain cancer. Their work could eventually help diagnose, treat, cure and even prevent prostate cancer.

Corets joined PROGRESS in 1994 after receiving a call from Dr. Janet Stanford, a member of the Center's Division of Public Health Sciences. Stanford, who led study recruitment, invited Corets and his brother (who did not have cancer) to participate. Corets didn't have to think twice about saying yes. "I'm lucky because I caught it early, but I have a grandson and he'll be at risk if we don't learn how to cure prostate cancer," he said.

Researchers are currently looking for more African-American families to participate in PROGRESS because African Americans have a 60 percent higher incidence of prostate cancer and a 100 percent higher death rate than do Caucasian Americans.

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