Stage II In The Development Of Eph/ephrin Based Tumor Targeting Reagents: Optimisation Of Drug Efficacy And Delivery
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$204,125.00
Summary
In the final stage of cancer, including melanoma, tumor cells gain the ability to spread, a process called metastasis. Altered communication between cancer and normal cells is one of the causes of this invasive characteristic. We have started the development of novel agents that target and modulate proteins on the cell surface that control these properties and are found in metastatic tumors. We propose to refine the targeting and killing properties of these agents for early clinical testing.
Control Of Refractive Error Through Ionically Driven Fluid Movements
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$208,600.00
Summary
Myopia affects about half the world's population with recent studies suggesting epidemic proportions among some Asian schoolchildren though we are not seeing this in Australia. Costs associated with detection, monitoring and optical correction of low and high myopia are huge. High myopes (15% with > 6D) also have a greatly increased risk of blindness between the ages of 30 and 50 years due to secondary disorders associated with impaired fluid balance (retinal and choroidal oedema, macula oede ....Myopia affects about half the world's population with recent studies suggesting epidemic proportions among some Asian schoolchildren though we are not seeing this in Australia. Costs associated with detection, monitoring and optical correction of low and high myopia are huge. High myopes (15% with > 6D) also have a greatly increased risk of blindness between the ages of 30 and 50 years due to secondary disorders associated with impaired fluid balance (retinal and choroidal oedema, macula oedema, retinal detachment and glaucoma). Currently there is no accepted pharmaceutical treatment for myopia though our studies in chick have provided the theoretical rationale and experimental data for a potential therapy and patent. This patent is now at the PCT stage and attests that changes in the abundance of the ions of the subretinal space control fluid movements across the retina to choroid and can be modulated therapeutically by diuretics to control fluid flow and hence axial growth and myopia. This application aims to take our current knowledge about fluid control in myopic chick into a mammalian model prior to preclinical trials in monkey. We anticipate it will take 1 year to establish the feasibility of diuretic control of experimentally induced myopic refractive errors in guinea pigs and the best drug and best the dosage range. These studies will contribute to the scientific understanding and bring the proposed pharmaceutical therapy for myopia in adults and children to a point of full commercialization. We believe that the results found in chick will have significance for early and late-onset myopia in humans as it is highly likely that the same mechanisms of ocular growth regulation operate throughout life.Read moreRead less