A Phase I Study Of Autologous CD19 Specific Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cells For Therapy Of Relapsed And Refractory B-cell Leukaemia And Lymphoma (The Auto-CAR19 Trial).
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$584,666.00
Summary
Most people with leukaemia and lymphoma who relapse early after chemotherapy die of their disease. Inserting special genes into immune cells can enable them to kill leukaemia and lymphoma and has led to dramatic cures, but the cost of the viral vectors used to make these cells is prohibitively expensive. We will make leukaemia and lymphoma specific immune cells from patients using an inexpensive non-viral system, then administer the immune cells to patients to assess their safety and efficacy.
Prophylactic Early Parenteral Nutrition In Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: A Multi-centre Randomised Controlled Trial.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,131,673.00
Summary
We intend to conduct a multi-centre clinical trial in patients receiving bone marrow transplants to determine whether very early nutrition support improves overall survival.
Long-term In Vivo Imaging Of Bone Marrow Microenvironments In Multiple Myeloma.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$688,371.00
Summary
White blood cells are soldiers of the immune system. When the machinery that controls growth and death of these cells is disrupted, these cells can undergo massive expansion. This leads to the development of blood cancers such as multiple myeloma (MM). In MM, malignant cells infiltrate bones preventing production of blood and damaging the bone structure leading to fractures. Using cutting edge microcopy we will watch how MM cells grow and damage bone tissue to develop new therapeutic approaches.
A Clinical Trial Of Partially HLA-matched Unrelated Donor Microtransplantation For Prevention Of Relapse In Patients With Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Ineligible For Standard Haemopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$154,828.00
Summary
Acute myeloid leukaemia has a poor prognosis in patients unable to undergo bone marrow transplant, in particular in the elderly. No proven therapy improves their poor outcome. There is an urgent need to identify clinically applicable, non-toxic therapies for this group of patients. We will perform a clinical trial of "microtransplantation" using unrelated stem cell donors in combination with chemotherapy to try to reduce the relapse rate in these patients without the toxic effects of standard st ....Acute myeloid leukaemia has a poor prognosis in patients unable to undergo bone marrow transplant, in particular in the elderly. No proven therapy improves their poor outcome. There is an urgent need to identify clinically applicable, non-toxic therapies for this group of patients. We will perform a clinical trial of "microtransplantation" using unrelated stem cell donors in combination with chemotherapy to try to reduce the relapse rate in these patients without the toxic effects of standard stem cell transplantation.Read moreRead less
Role Of Erg In B-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$749,034.00
Summary
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a lethal blood cancer for which current treatments are suboptimal. Over-expression of the ERG gene has been associated with the poor prognosis B cell ALL called Ph+ B-ALL. We have recently shown that loss of Erg prevents disease development in disease models. We hypothesise that expression of ERG is a key driver of Ph+ B-ALL and propose to define this role and identify new opportunities for development of specific novel therapeutics.
Myeloproliferative diseases (MPD) and leukemias arise from blood cells with faulty molecular signalling caused by genetic mutations. We are studying MPD and leukemias that carry over-active versions of the JAK2 signalling molecule. We will use human and mouse leukemias and MPD to discover how these diseases develop, and how we can use specific medications to stop these processes. Our goal is to discover new, improved ways to treat leukemias and MPDs.
Trial To Evaluate Anti-fibrinolytic Therapy In Thrombocytopenia (TREATT)
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$1,057,478.00
Summary
Patients with haematologic malignancies often have low platelet counts from their disease or treatment. This can be associated with bleeding, which can sometimes be serious or fatal. Nearly 2/3 of all platelet transfusions in Australia are given in this setting to try to prevent bleeding but many people still experience bleeding. This study asks whether tranexamic acid can safely & effectively reduce bleeding and if it does, does reduced bleeding lead to reduction in platelet transfusions?
Targeting Epigenetic Enzymes In Core Binding Factor AML
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$542,273.00
Summary
Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a devastating disease and there are ~900 new cases diagnosed annually in Australia. A subset of AML, called core binding factor (CBF) AML is more responsive to conventional chemotherapies than other AMLs however patients still relapse indicating a need for new therapies. We will use preclinical models of CBF AML to identify the proteins and pathways that these leukemias are “addicted” to in order to develop new treatment options for these patients.
Transposon Mutagenesis For Discovery Of Disease Causing Genes And Their Cooperative Interactions In Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$659,302.00
Summary
The emergence of cancer is caused by multiple mutations in normal cells. Recent progress has allowed the detection of virtually all mutations in a cancer genome. Although this has been enormous progress, it has become increasingly evident that only rare mutations are responsible for sustained tumour growth and treatment failure, while the majority of mutations are without effect. Our research will assist identification of the genetic changes essential to leukemia development, which will help dev ....The emergence of cancer is caused by multiple mutations in normal cells. Recent progress has allowed the detection of virtually all mutations in a cancer genome. Although this has been enormous progress, it has become increasingly evident that only rare mutations are responsible for sustained tumour growth and treatment failure, while the majority of mutations are without effect. Our research will assist identification of the genetic changes essential to leukemia development, which will help develop new cancer therapies.Read moreRead less
A Trial Of Tumour Antigen Targeted Donor T Cells In High Risk Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$404,081.00
Summary
Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) is the most common acute leukaemia in adults. Patients with high-risk AML have a 2-year survival of less than 20%. Blood or bone marrow transplant from a healthy donor is often the only chance of cure but the leukaemia frequently returns. We will perform a clinical trial giving leukaemia fighting immune cells from the transplant donor to patients with high risk AML to prevent relapse after transplant.