Phase III Study Of The Impact Of A Physical Activity Program On Disease-free Survival For Early Colon Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$2,556,385.00
Summary
There is clear evidence that physical activity can reduce the risk of developing bowel cancer and some evidence suggesting it may decrease the risk of a recurrence of bowel cancer. This study will provide reliable evidence as to whether people who participate in a structured physical activity programme after treatment for stage II or III colorectal cancer can increase their likelihood of being alive without a cancer recurrence at three years, compared to those who have standard follow-up.
Interplay Between Mutant P53 And PML; Implications For Tumourigenesis.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$483,737.00
Summary
The most important agent of the body for fighting cancer is the cellular protein p53. In more than 50% of all human cancers, it looses its anticancer properties through mutation. In an insidious manner this new mutant form then acts to promote cancer. To better treat cancer we need to understand how mutant p53 functions. We will study how it interacts with its molecular partners in cancer cells.
Synthetic Analogues Of The Actinomycin, Quinamycin And Nogalamycin Groups Of Antitumour Antibiotics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$376,433.00
Summary
The principal difficulty in the treatment of the common solid tumours that cause the majority of cancer deaths is the problem of drug resistance. For example, many patients with cancer of the lung, breast or colon respond well to drug treatment with their tumours initially regressing, only to return later in an aggressive drug-resistant form. In this event, the inevitable outcome is that the tumour grows through drug treatment and the patient eventually succumbs and dies. This is also a familiar ....The principal difficulty in the treatment of the common solid tumours that cause the majority of cancer deaths is the problem of drug resistance. For example, many patients with cancer of the lung, breast or colon respond well to drug treatment with their tumours initially regressing, only to return later in an aggressive drug-resistant form. In this event, the inevitable outcome is that the tumour grows through drug treatment and the patient eventually succumbs and dies. This is also a familiar scenario in the treatment of adults with leakaemias and non-Hodgkins lymphomas. The underlying cause of drug resistance is the genetic instability of cancer cells which results in tumours that are heterogeneous, making it almost inevitable that a cancer cell will arise that is resistant to treatment. There are many mechanisms of resistance, some of which are peculiar to particular drug types, some are permeability barriers and some involve genetic deregulation of the biochemistry of cell death. One way of subverting resistance is by the use of drugs whose mechanism of action is novel so that the tumour is challenged to devise a new defense. Here, we are attempting to develop synthetic analogues of a class of naturally- occurring antitumour antibiotic whose mechanism of action is unusual but which has not been exploited by medicinal chemists because of the difficulty of the chemistry involved. These antibiotics work by binding to DNA and inhibiting the first step in the process whereby genes are turned into proteins. We have designed compounds that are chemically accessible that our preliminary work suggests mimic the DNA-binding and biological properties of the natural antibiotics. The proposed work will enable us to evaluate whether this new class of agent has experimental antitumour activity, particularly amongst drug-resistant tumours.Read moreRead less