A South Australian research project is tapping into cutting-edge technology to find out how prostate cancer tumours grow and why some treatments fail.
Thanks to your donations to Australian Prostate Cancer, Dr Chui Yan Mah from the University of Adelaide is using spatial omics to highlight how different cells can affect the tumour’s growth.
An emerging field in medical research, spatial omics uses intact tissue samples so that cells can be analysed in their natural environment.
In a world-first, Dr Mah is using prostate cancer tissue to show how a protein called androgen receptor manipulates the cells to promote growth and resistance to treatments.
“The project is progressing well, and we’re diving deeper into the role of the androgen receptor in the tumour microenvironment using spatial omics technology,” she said.
“While we’re still in the early phases, the preliminary results are promising, and we’re currently working on validating these initial findings.”
Androgen receptors are the main target for prostate cancer treatments, but resistance to these drugs can develop when the tumour morphs.
Changes to the tumour’s microenvironment can influence how the cells interact, which can trigger resistance and growth, but it’s unclear what role androgen receptors play in this.
Dr Mah said by using spatial omics to map out the microenvironment, better strategies can be developed to prevent treatment resistance and improve survival for prostate cancer patients.
Through this project, Dr Mah and her team have also identified potential biomarkers that could help predict how a patient might respond to treatment.
“As part of our ongoing research, we are working to validate the spatial markers we identified based on data from our initial analysis, using a larger, independent cohort of tissue samples,” she said.
“This step is critical for confirming the reproducibility and robustness of these markers in different contexts.”
We look forward to sharing the outcomes of this exciting project with you in the future!
