Delineating Mechanisms Of Acquired Resistance To Kinase Inhibitors And Devising Novel Strategies To Combat Therapeutic Resistance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$437,034.00
Summary
Kinase inhibitors are some of the most successful anti-cancer agents that have emerged in the last 15 years. However, tumors become resistant to these drugs after showing initial response. Understanding mechanisms through which cancer cells become resistant to these drugs will allow us to develop effective strategies to counter it and achieve sustained responses to cancer therapy. I propose to build a research program to systematically study these mechanisms to improve cancer therapeutics.
Clinicopathological Characterisation Of Male Breast Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$113,322.00
Summary
Male Breast Cancer is an uncommon and poorly understood disease. Due to its low frequency, there is a paucity of studies with large numbers of patients. Our aim will be to establish one of the largest worldwide databases of Male Breast Cancer. This will allow us to more thoroughly investigate clinical, pathological and molecular characteristics of male breast cancer, improve treatment of these patients and potentially develop novel and innovative strategies for treatment of female breast cancer.
Companion Biomarker And Therapeutic Strategy Development For Pancreatic Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$121,031.00
Summary
Innovation of predictive and responsive biomarkers in pancreatic cancer (PC) is of paramount importance. This project contains two parts: 1. Circulating DNA. It has been shown previously that DNA released into the blood stream by cancer can be measured, its usefulness in PC will be assessed. 2. ROCK-I as a predictive biomarker. ROCK-I is a protein involved in cell motility. The ability for ROCK-I amplification to predict for response to ROCK-I inhibitors will be assessed in vitro/in vivo.
Toll-like Receptor 2 Signalling As A Potential Therapeutic Target In Gastric Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$323,091.00
Summary
Stomach cancer is the fourth most deadly cancer in the world. Stomach cancer is closely linked with inflammation, and we have shown that a key inflammatory molecule, called toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), can drive the development of stomach cancer. However, this occurs in a non-inflammatory manner. My research aims to understand how TLR2 is involved in the progression of stomach cancer, with the ultimate goal to find an early biomarker of disease, and to develop better therapies.
Tailoring Targeted Therapy To DNA Repair-defective High-Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$802,247.00
Summary
Ovarian cancer is a major cause of cancer death in women because current treatments are inadequate. Half of aggressive ovarian cancers have abnormalities in DNA repair and should be susceptible to new PARP inhibitor therapy, yet not all those respond. By developing a new model of studying human ovarian cancers in mice, we can discover markers to predict which ovarian cancers will respond best to these exciting new treatments.
The Oligoadenylate-RNAseL Pathway May Provide A Specific And Low Toxicity Approach To Therapy For Breast Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$439,314.00
Summary
We have discovered that a pathway used to fight viral infections can be triggered to produce massive cell death in the mammary gland. We hope to be able to trigger this response in breast cancers through the strategic combination of available drugs. If successful this project will establish a new therapeutic strategy for breast cancer.
Discovery, Preclinical And Translational Research In Endometrial Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$451,716.00
Summary
My research program is focused on “bench to bedside” translational research in uterine cancer. Specifically, identifying the genetic aberrations underlying the development of uterine cancer, understanding the function of these genes in normal and cancer cells, providing proof of principle data that drugs targeting these defective proteins induce cancer cell death in vitro and in vivo and identifying factors associated with whether a patient will respond to one particular treatment over another.
Therapeutic Targeting Of The Colorectal Cancer Epigenome
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$537,045.00
Summary
Enhancer RNAs (eRNAs) are a new class of noncoding RNA molecules that have been linked to diverse functions that impinge on cancer, but their clinical relevance is unknown. Our work shows that distinct eRNAs are expressed in a subset of cancer and predict which cancer will respond to a cancer therapeutic agent called a BET inhibitor. Our proposal uses sophisticated preclinical models and cutting edge technology to investigate the functional role of enhancers and enhancer templated RNA in cancer.
The Molecular Basis By Which IL-6 Family Cytokines And Pathogen Recognition Receptors Promote Inflammation-associated Stomach And Lung Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$631,010.00
Summary
Lung and stomach cancer are the 2 most lethal cancers world-wide, and represent a growing number of cancers associated with chronic inflammation. However, the genes which trigger inflammation and then promote cancer in certain people remain largely unknown. Using mouse models for these inflammation-associated cancers, together with clinical specimens, our aim is to identify specific genes of the immune system which trigger chronic inflammatory responses that lead to cancer.
Targeting A Master Regulator Of Tumour Cell Plasticity As A New Adjuvant Therapy For Prostate Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$780,338.00
Summary
Prostate cancer (PCa) claims the lives of over 3,000 Australian men each year. This highlights the urgent need to identify new molecular targets that can be developed as additional therapies for men with PCa. Our team has identified the protein, Zeb1, to be highly expressed in aggressive and treatment resistant forms of PCa. This study aims to characterise the role of Zeb1 in the lethal progression of PCa and to develop a new therapeutic agent to inhibit the production of ZEB1 by cancer cells.