# Charles L. Sawyers

Source: https://onco.cc/people/charles-sawyers/  
OnCo record `charles-sawyers` (Person). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Co-developed imatinib's successor dasatinib and the prostate drug enzalutamide, and explained how cancers resist targeted drugs.

## Summary

Physician-scientist who characterised BCR-ABL resistance mutations, co-developed dasatinib, and with Michael Jung co-invented enzalutamide and apalutamide. His laboratory studies androgen receptor signalling and lineage plasticity in castration-resistant prostate cancer. Lasker Award 2009, Breakthrough Prize 2013.

## Fields

- Kind: Person
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Role: Chair, Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program; HHMI Investigator
- Specialisms: Prostate cancer; Kinase inhibitor resistance; Androgen receptor biology; Lineage plasticity

## Sources

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Sawyers
- MSK lab: https://www.mskcc.org/research-areas/labs/charles-sawyers
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Sawyers%20CL%5BAuthor%5D

## Connected records

- cancers: [Prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/prostate/)
- targets: [Androgen receptor](https://onco.cc/targets/androgen-receptor/), [BCR::ABL1 (Philadelphia chromosome)](https://onco.cc/targets/bcr-abl/)
- drugs: [Apalutamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/apalutamide/), [Dasatinib](https://onco.cc/drugs/dasatinib/), [Enzalutamide](https://onco.cc/drugs/enzalutamide/)
- institutions: [Howard Hughes Medical Institute](https://onco.cc/institutions/hhmi/), [Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center](https://onco.cc/institutions/mskcc/), [Prostate Cancer Foundation](https://onco.cc/institutions/pcf/), [Stand Up To Cancer](https://onco.cc/institutions/stand-up-to-cancer/)
- key papers: [Integrative genomic profiling of human prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-taylor-integrative-genomic-profiling-cancer-cell-2010/), [Molecular determinants of resistance to antiandrogen therapy](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-chen-androgen-receptor-overexpression-antiandrogen-resistance-nat-med-2004/), [SOX2 promotes lineage plasticity and antiandrogen resistance in TP53- and RB1-deficient prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mu-sox2-lineage-plasticity-science-2017/), [SU2C-PCF: integrative clinical genomics of advanced prostate cancer](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-robinson-integrative-clinical-genomics-advanced-prostate-cell-2015/)
- people: [Brian Druker](https://onco.cc/people/brian-druker/), [Michael Milken](https://onco.cc/people/michael-milken/)

---
JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/charles-sawyers.json