Prostate cancer is the most common form of internal cancer in Australian men. One in six Australian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer before the age of 85.
Early detection and more informed treatments can significantly improve men’s prostate cancer survival and research is imperative to saving more lives from the disease.
See a snapshot of the projects we are funding thanks to the support of our donors and fundraisers:
Prostate Cancer Support
Progressing pre-clinical studies on a revolutionary formulation of Zytiga that will speed up the drug’s digestion and enhance absorption in the body, to avoid the inconvenience of having to fast before and after taking the drug.
Researcher
Professor Clive Prestidge and his research group have developed clever little nano-carriers which can take the drugs across biological barriers or help them target the right area within the body, and ultimately work a lot better.
Progressing research into prostate cancer which has become resistant to existing therapies, by focusing on a promising drug Ribociclib and using biomarkers to predict which patients it will work best for.
Researcher
Dr Maggie Centenera says personalising treatment through the use of biomarkers is an important feature of the research and managing prostate cancer.
Improving early detection of patients whose prostate cancer is more likely to spread to advanced incurable stages, by establishing biomarkers which can distinguish high-risk patients and then develop new treatments to improve the patient’s outcomes and quality of life.
Researcher
Dr Zeyad Nassar’s research is focusing on fatty acid oxidisation (FAO), a process where fats are broken down to generate energy and which has been discovered as a main source of fuel for prostate cancer cell survival.
Producing a “report card” which outlines the outcomes of various prostate cancer treatments to help prostate cancer patients make informed treatment choices when diagnosed with the disease. It will evaluate survival, cancer recurrence, secondary treatment and impacts on urinary, bowel and sexual function for different prostate cancer treatments, based on the experiences of men previously diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Researcher
Dr Kerri Beckmann is driving the work, which will evaluate survival, cancer recurrence, secondary treatment and impacts on urinary, bowel and sexual function for different prostate cancer treatments, based on the experiences of men previously diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Progressing research on a newly-discovered protein called CDK9 which drives prostate cancer growth, and determine whether CDK9 inhibitors can stop the growth of lethal forms of prostate cancer.
Researcher
Associate Professor Luke Selth is working to understand how CDK9 inhibitors work in the process of both blocking the growth of and killing prostate cancer cells.
Identifying a list of new and existing drugs which show promise in changing an offending hormone receptor in breast cancer from cancer-promoting to cancer-inhibiting, and taking these new drugs to clinical trials.
Researcher
Professor Wayne Tilley and his collaborators are progressing this exciting list of drugs to clinical trials!
Contributing to the South Australian Prostate Cancer Clinical Outcomes Collaborative (SA-PCCOC) database which holds data for more than 18,000 men to assist research insights and inform best approaches to care.
The database helps oncologists and urologists provide more accurate, research-informed recommendations to men who are faced with a prostate cancer diagnosis.
