Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Australian women, affecting one in 8. While physical examination, mammography and ultrasound remain first-line screening tools, there are no reliable blood tests to aid diagnosis. This project aims to discover proteins in breast cancer tissue, or in the bloodstream of patients, which can be measured to provide information about the presence and severity of breast cancer. A new, reliable diagnostic test could benefit millions of women.
A Clinical Trial Evaluating Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy For Women With Large Operable Or Locally Advanced Breast Cancer.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$269,805.00
Summary
Larger operable and locally advanced breast cancers (BC) which can involve the skin of the breast and lymph nodes under the arm are associated with poorer survival. Standard treatment usually includes neoadjuvant (or preoperative) chemotherapy to try to reduce the size of the cancer, followed by surgery and radiation therapy to treat any remaining cancer in the breast. Many women, despite maximum treatment, will still die from their disease, hence the need to develop more effective drug therapie ....Larger operable and locally advanced breast cancers (BC) which can involve the skin of the breast and lymph nodes under the arm are associated with poorer survival. Standard treatment usually includes neoadjuvant (or preoperative) chemotherapy to try to reduce the size of the cancer, followed by surgery and radiation therapy to treat any remaining cancer in the breast. Many women, despite maximum treatment, will still die from their disease, hence the need to develop more effective drug therapies. The advantages of neoadjuvant chemotherapy include: the potential to reduce the size of the breast cancer which may allow breast conserving surgery rather than mastectomy; and, the ability to directly assess the response of breast cancers to new drug treatments. This new research project aims to evaluate standard chemotherapy (epirubicin and cyclophosphamide) followed by a course of two newer, possibly more beneficial, chemotherapy drugs for breast cancer (docetaxel and gemcitabine (DG)) followed by surgery, in women with large operable-locally advanced breast cancer. The trial will allow patients with HER2 positive breast cancer to receive trastuzumab (Herceptin ) in addition to the DG chemotherapy treatment cycles. The study will measure the tumour response rates, efficacy and safety of the proposed treatments. Patients will be asked to consent to an extra core biopsy and a small sample of their breast tissue collected at the time of their breast surgery to be used for research to help better understand the biology of the disease and responses to treatment. The study could plausibly offer a better treatment for patients, resulting in a better prognosis for women who present with large operable or locally advanced breast cancer. The trial will be conducted, in Australia and New Zealand, by the Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group (ANZ BCTG) and will involve approximately twenty Australian hospitals.Read moreRead less
Next-generation Glioblastoma Multiforme Therapies Based On Multistage Delivery Nanovectors
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$314,644.00
Summary
Nanomedicine provides novel therapies with enhanced treatment success and reduced side effects, which improve the patient’s quality of life. Drug delivery systems that are able to treat highly drug-resistant tumours such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) are a key target for nanomedicine-based therapies. We will investigate a new GBM treatment by developing a multistage delivery nanovector to selectively carry and release a combination of chemical and physical therapeutics.
Preclinical Development Of A Therapeutic Anticancer Antibody To C-Met
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$435,530.00
Summary
Many common cancers cannot be effectively treated. A range of these cancers (e.g. gastric and lung cancer) display the molecule c-Met on their cell surface. c-Met promotes tumour growth; therefore, blocking c-Met is a promising strategy for treating these cancers. However, no antibodies or drugs that target c-Met have been licensed. The therapeutics that are being developed to target c-Met all have considerable limitations. Thus, there is an opportunity to develop a 'best-in-class' therapeutic.
Therapeutic Targeting Of MYCN Oncoprotein Stability In Neuroblastoma
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$590,206.00
Summary
A high level of MYCN protein is a major indicator of aggressive neuroblastoma (NB) but unfortunately there have been many barriers to the design of targeted therapies. We have identified a protein called PA2G4 which is a cofactor for MYCN in promoting cancer cell growth. We have developed a compound which inhibits PA2G4 and MYCN protein levels and reduces tumour growth. We will examine how PA2G4 cause aggressive tumour characteristics and test new methods to block PA2G4.
Antibiotic Potentiators As An Alternative Therapeutic Option For The Treatment Of Extensively Drug-resistant Gram-negative Infections
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$856,858.00
Summary
Antibiotic mono-therapies are increasingly ineffective for hard-to-treat bacterial infections, forcing clinicians to rely on combinations of antibiotics. Our project has identified compounds that have weak to no antimicrobial potency in their own right, yet when combined with an existing antibiotic they potentiate its activity and restore its ability to treat resistant infections. These antibiotic potentiators are exciting alternatives to current therapies with reduced risk of induced resistance
Treatments that target cancer causing genes called oncogenes have resulted in new treatment paradigms for cancer. We suggest that outcomes of patients with cancer will be further substantially improved by understanding how cancers can overcome resistance to these treatments that develops in many patients. To accelerate the adoption of these and other new treatments for cancer we will also develop new frameworks for clinical trials.
There is an unmet medical need to develop new therapies that are safer and potentially allow the treatment of a broader range of cancers. Inhibiting the immune checkpoints TIGIT and CD96 represents an opportunity that may parallel and indeed complement the activity and impact of other lymphocyte checkpoint inhibitors in human cancer (eg. PD1/PD-L1). While testing these as targets in mice we will also learn more about their ligand CD155 and their expression in human tumors.
Effectiveness Of Training Somatosensation In The Hand After Stroke: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$180,660.00
Summary
Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, requiring provision of rehabilitation services to help minimize impairment and its impact on the ability to resume daily activities. The ability to feel textures and objects through touch and to know where one s limbs are in space are impaired in up to 85% of people who have suffered a stroke. People with this loss are handicapped by difficulties in exploring objects through touch and in performing everyday tasks that require grasp and manipulat ....Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, requiring provision of rehabilitation services to help minimize impairment and its impact on the ability to resume daily activities. The ability to feel textures and objects through touch and to know where one s limbs are in space are impaired in up to 85% of people who have suffered a stroke. People with this loss are handicapped by difficulties in exploring objects through touch and in performing everyday tasks that require grasp and manipulation of objects. Yet clinicians are either not treating the problem or are using methods without a sound theoretical basis and controlled evidence to support their application. We have systematically investigated optimal methods of sensory training across different sensory abilities using a series of single-subject experiments. Marked improvement in the ability to discriminate trained and related untrained texture stimuli and limb positions was achieved and maintained in most participants. These findings have provided the foundation for development a scientifically based and clinically focused sensory retraining program that has apparently excellent therapeutic potential. The purpose of the proposed study is to test the effectiveness of this scientifically based, clinical sensory retraining program in a broad group of stroke clients using the internationally recommended randomized controlled group design. The program will train a range of functionally important sensory discrimination tasks, i.e. texture discrimination, limb position sense and tactual object recognition, in clinical and home environments. Demonstration of clinically important and statistically significant training effects will provide the evidence necessary to recommend the introduction of the program into routine health service delivery. Investigation of patient characteristics that may impact on the ability to benefit from training will assist in the targeting of services to appropriate individuals.Read moreRead less
Engineered Cell And Exosome Therapy For Pulmonary Vascular Disease
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$838,490.00
Summary
Diseases affecting the blood vessels in the lungs cause early death and the currently available treatments are not curative. We will take advantage of the latest developments in the understanding of the molecular basis of these diseases to design and test a new treatment approach using cells and cell-derived products as a therapy.