Radiotherapy Treatment For Prostate Cancer - A Change In Practice Based On Direct Evidence For Targeting And Toxicity Effects Using Real Outcomes Data
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$555,129.00
Summary
Radiotherapy for prostate cancer treatment will be more effective when we have better knowledge of what patient anatomy needs to be targeted, and what needs to be avoided. This project will combine data collected during a large Australasian prostate cancer radiotherapy trial, ‘RADAR’, with data collected using new patient imaging methods to determine how patient anatomy impacts on the effectiveness of their treatment and the side-effects they experience.
Heparin-induced Thrombocytopenia And Thrombosis: Better Understanding Of Pathogenesis And Improving Diagnosis And Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$653,137.00
Summary
Heparin, a widely used drug, can cause an adverse effect which results in a fall of the platelet count and the development of serious thrombosis. This drug complication is mediated by an immune mechanism. This proposal aims to provide a better understanding of the disease mechanism. It also aims to develop a new test that will improve the diagnosis, and to produce a novel drug that will effectively suppress the immune reaction and improve the treatment.
Cholestasis And Hepatocyte Injury In Chronic Liver Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$615,967.00
Summary
The aim of this project is to understand the consequences of long-term cholestasis or impaired bile excretion/flow on normal liver cells (hepatocytes) and to test whether specific bile acids can cause irreversible damage to hepatocytes leading to their transformation into pre-malignant cells and hepatocellular carcinoma (primary liver cancer). The results from this project will inform new strategies in screening, prevention and treatment of liver cancer in children and adults with cholestasis.
Development Of A New High Throughput Screen For Drug Binding To HERG K+ Channels
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$351,320.00
Summary
Inadvertent drug block of hERG, a potassium channel in the heart, can cause cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Screening for hERG toxicity has become a major hurdle for development of new drugs. We will use a mutant hERG protein that has enhanced drug binding to develop a high throughput test for hERG toxicity. Identification of dangerous drugs early in the drug discovery process will save the pharmaceutical industry millions of dollars in the costs of brining new drugs to market.
Antimalarial Drugs In Pregnancy: Preclinical And Clinical Studies Of Conventional And Novel Agents
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$470,115.00
Summary
Women in malaria-endemic areas such as coastal PNG are at high risk of malaria in pregnancy. To prevent the substantially increased malaria-associated morbidity and mortality in mother and child, and because even asymptomatic infections can be deleterious, there has been a move to giving antimalarial drugs regularly during pregnancy regardless of the mother's clinical or parasitological status. In poor tropical countries, such treatment usually comprises safe and inexpensive agents such as chlor ....Women in malaria-endemic areas such as coastal PNG are at high risk of malaria in pregnancy. To prevent the substantially increased malaria-associated morbidity and mortality in mother and child, and because even asymptomatic infections can be deleterious, there has been a move to giving antimalarial drugs regularly during pregnancy regardless of the mother's clinical or parasitological status. In poor tropical countries, such treatment usually comprises safe and inexpensive agents such as chloroquine and Fansidar. There are two main issues with this approach. First, the efficacy of such conventional agents is waning and this increases the risk of break-through malaria. Second, there are few data on how the drugs are handled in pregnancy on which to base recommendations for treatment. We plan to collect information on the disposition and effectiveness of chloroquine and Fansidar in women with malaria in pregnancy in PNG that should allow a critical appraisal of the usefulness of current regimens in PNG and in other tropical countries where parasite resistance to these agents is emerging. Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) in the form of a novel artemisinin drug and a longer-acting partner has been suggested as the most promising alternative therapy for malaria in pregnancy if conventional drugs fail. We plan to assess the safety of a leading ACT formulation, namely dihydroartemisinin and the chloroquine-like drug piperaquine (DHA-PQ), in animals before extending our studies to women with malaria in PNG. These latter studies will allow an evaluation of the safety and efficacy of DHA-PQ as novel therapy for malaria in pregnancy in PNG and other tropical countries.Read moreRead less
Drug-induced Immune Thrombocytopenia: Understanding The Disease Mechanisms Is The Key To Better Treatment
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$509,550.00
Summary
Many very commonly used medications cause an allergic reaction in a small number of patients that receive them. The allergic reaction results in platelets being destroyed and puts the patients at risk of bleeding. The patient recovers slowly if the drug is stopped but there is no other treatment and no way to reverse the effect quickly if the patient starts to bleed. This project will try to understand the mechanism of the condition and test a potential treatment.
Unravelling The Mechanism Of MHC Class-I Associated Drug Hypersensitivities
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$566,308.00
Summary
Some drugs cause adverse reactions that are life threatening. We think these reactions are mediated by killer T cells as they are genetically controlled by immune response genes that normally guide immunity to microbes. We will study immune reactions to the drug abacavir, used to treat HIV (AIDS); allopurinol used to prevent gout and carbamazepine, used to treat epilepsy. The study may also help devise better treatments for patients who experience severe forms of these reactions.
A Randomised Open-label Study Comparing The Safety And Efficacy Of Two Alternative Treatment Options In The Management Of HIV-1 Infected Participants Who Have Virologically Failed A Standard First-line Combination ART Regimen
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$457,676.00
Summary
For the past decade there has been an unprecedented international effort to provide access to care for all HIV-infected people as a basic human right. Most of these people are treated with a simple combination of drugs that are well proven to control HIV. However, what to do when this first drug combination stops working is unknown. This study aims to fill that knowledge gap so that patients failing the first drug combination can be offered a second combination with a maximal chance of success.
A Phase III Trial Comparing Adjuvant Versus Salvage Radiotherapy For High Risk Patients Post Radical Prostatectomy
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$819,138.00
Summary
About half of all patients Treated with an operation to remove their prostate cancer have a high chance of the cancer coming back. Giving immediate radiotherapy to all patients will improve cure rates but does not benefit all men and can cause significant side effects. This study explores whether it is safe to wait and only give radiotherapy when there is a rising PSA after surgery indicating active cancer. A total of 470 men from Australasia will enter this study comparing the two approaches.