Estrogen Therapy For Castrate Resistant Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$531,690.00
Summary
Withdrawal of male hormones in men with prostate cancer is effective therapeutically because it causes cell death in most of the tumour. However the remaining cells (called castrate resistant cells), give rise to recurrent disease that inevitably kills the patient. This project aims to test if our compound will kill these cells and prevent recurrence or if it has any benefit for the patients who have incurable disease.
A Novel Strategy For Targeting Castrate-resistant Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$799,440.00
Summary
Modern drugs for advanced prostate cancer are based on starving the tumour of hormones. However, tumours either escape this treatment or are inherently resistant to it. We have developed a new approach with drugs that block protein synthesis. This deprives tumours of the building blocks to make new cancer cells. In this project, we will determine the effectiveness of this new treatment on samples of patient prostate cancer tissue that have failed currently available drugs.
Profiling Circulating DNA And RNA To Identify Mechanisms Of Therapeutic Resistance And Response In Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$482,590.00
Summary
Enzalutamide is a powerful hormone treatment that improves survival for men with advanced prostate cancer. Unfortunately, all prostate cancers eventually become resistant to enzalutamide and not all men initially respond to treatment. I will look for blood markers that predict which men benefit from enzalutamide treatment and try to understand how resistance to enzalutamide occurs. This may lead to more effective use of enzalutamide resulting in better outcomes in advanced prostate cancer.
Novel Endocrine Approaches To Diagnosis & Treatment Of Men With Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$926,980.00
Summary
Most men are diagnosed with localised prostate cancer, others have advanced disease. Vision: Identify how tumours are insignificant vs aggressive (Aim 1.1 & 1.2). Predict which tumours will progress to incurable disease (Aim 1.3) and how to target them (Aim 1.4). Discover how each patient tumour is different (Aim 2.1) and pre-clinically test new therapies (Aim 2.2). Outcomes: practice changing discoveries that identify novel therapeutic targets & biomarkers improving diagnosis and treatment.
Sympathetic Nervous System Regulation Of The Tumour Microenvironment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$396,212.00
Summary
Metastasis is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in breast cancer. These studies will evaluate the translational opportunity of targeting the sympathetic nervous system as a common regulator of cancer progression pathways. By exploiting sensitive imaging technology for non-invasive, real-time assessment of stress biology, these studies will define the neuroendocrine mechanisms that operate in the tumour microenvironment to support dissemination and arrest of cancer cells in target organs ....Metastasis is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in breast cancer. These studies will evaluate the translational opportunity of targeting the sympathetic nervous system as a common regulator of cancer progression pathways. By exploiting sensitive imaging technology for non-invasive, real-time assessment of stress biology, these studies will define the neuroendocrine mechanisms that operate in the tumour microenvironment to support dissemination and arrest of cancer cells in target organs.Read moreRead less
Intraductal Carcinoma Of The Prostate: Indicator Of Aggressive Disease.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$884,377.00
Summary
This proposal addresses the need to improve personalised treatment decisions for men with high risk familial prostate cancer as they have a very aggressive disease progression with a very poor clinical outcome. We will perform biological and pre-clinical studies to improve the clinical diagnosis, prognosis and treatment options for men with germline mutations in BRCA2 or BRCA1 genes who develop prostate cancer.
Male Reproductive Health Including Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$727,685.00
Summary
My previous contributions to Andrology and Endocrinology of the Testis provide me with a significant breadth of expertise and a sustained record of contribution to Men’s Reproductive Health. My recent research effort has focused on Urology and prostate cancer. Through my prostate cancer research program, my overall strategy is to understand the biology of the prostate gland to enable the development of new therapies for prostate cancer, as well as for BPH (enlargement of the prostate) and prosta ....My previous contributions to Andrology and Endocrinology of the Testis provide me with a significant breadth of expertise and a sustained record of contribution to Men’s Reproductive Health. My recent research effort has focused on Urology and prostate cancer. Through my prostate cancer research program, my overall strategy is to understand the biology of the prostate gland to enable the development of new therapies for prostate cancer, as well as for BPH (enlargement of the prostate) and prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate gland).Read moreRead less
Pushing AR Toward Better Outcomes In Breast And Prostate Cancers
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$998,754.00
Summary
Breast and prostate cancers kill >6000 Australians each year. These cancers are strikingly similar, both driven by hormone receptors that have ‘gone bad’. Current therapies aim to eradicate the receptors. While often effective, therapeutic resistance is common and results in fatal disease. We aim to develop new, less toxic treatments that switch receptor behaviour from good to bad, without destroying them. This should improve quality of life, while preventing drug resistance and loss of lives ....Breast and prostate cancers kill >6000 Australians each year. These cancers are strikingly similar, both driven by hormone receptors that have ‘gone bad’. Current therapies aim to eradicate the receptors. While often effective, therapeutic resistance is common and results in fatal disease. We aim to develop new, less toxic treatments that switch receptor behaviour from good to bad, without destroying them. This should improve quality of life, while preventing drug resistance and loss of lives.Read moreRead less
The Role Of Angiopoietin-1 In The Self-renewal And Metastasis Of Prostate Cancer Stem Cells
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$558,742.00
Summary
Bone metastasis occurs in more than 80% of cases of advanced prostate cancer (PCa), and is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in PCa patients. Understanding why PCa cells preferentially metastasize to bone may lead to the the development of novel therapy for inhibiting PCa metastasis. This project will study how the bone cell-secreted protein angiopoietin-1 promotes the metastasis of PCa cells to bone and whether inactivation of this protein can inhibit PCa bone metastasis.
Sensitizing Tumours To Immunotherapy: Development Of An RNA-based Therapeutic For Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma That Targets The Immunosuppressive Tumour Microenvironment.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$192,347.00
Summary
The blood vessels of tumours are highly abnormal resulting in leakiness and hypoxia within the microenvironment. These abnormalities contribute both to the pathology and also to resistance to treatment. We have developed a new drug that is able to inhibit vascular leak, better the response to therapies and improve disease outcome. This work will generate essential data for the development of this drug towards Clinical Trials through interaction with International Pharma.