Funded projects

Clinical trials workshop at TROG ASM 2013, Wellington

Clinical trials are fundamental to the development of innovative interventions that treat cancer. Participants in clinical trials can play a more active role in their own health care, gain access to new research treatments before they are widely available, and help others by contributing to medical research. Funding from this grant would support attendance by experienced faculty to present at the, one day Clinical Trial Management Workshop that will be held on the first day of the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Trans-Tasman Radiation Oncology Group (TROG) scheduled for February 2013 in Wellington.

Genesis Oncology Trust palliative care breakfast lecture series

In its 10th year, the Genesis Oncology Trust Lecture Series continues to provide an easily accessible palliative care education opportunity. Delivered via teleconference, the eleven lecture series is attended by an average of 430 people each month. Registered sites throughout the country participate in the series. Participant numbers have continued to grow with approximately 2590 people listening to the breakfast lectures to date in 2012 – an increase of 25% on last year. Thanks to the generosity of the Genesis Oncology Trust the lectures continue to be available without charge to registered participants. In 2013 we will also provide post lecture access to some materials via our website for those unable to attend live lectures.

Developing peptide technologies to combat breast cancer

Novel protein technologies developed at Auckland University will be employed to combat breast cancer, which is the most common cause of cancer-related death in women. Each year in New Zealand more than 2000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer growth is driven by the female sex hormone estrogen, and is blocked by anti-hormone drugs like tamoxifen. Unfortunately, cancers don't respond to tamoxifen and others become resistant to its effects. The novel protein technology we have developed has the potential to overcome these problems, and will be tested for its ability to combat breast cancer.

Cancer epidemiology training programme in breast cancer aetiology: modifiable risk factors and healthy lifestyle indexes

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. This research will draw on data from New Zealand and Europe, to investigate the roles that modifiable factors - including healthy diet, physical activity, overweight and obesity, smoking and alcohol consumption - have on breast cancer risk and its social patterning. The large dataset provides unique opportunities to investigate risks for different population groups and breast cancer subtypes separately. Findings from this work will inform the development of primary prevention strategies to assist in focussing breast cancer control efforts in New Zealand and internationally.

To attend the TROG Annual Scientific Meeting in May 2012 to be held in Darwin, Australia from 1-4 May 2012

To attend the 19th International Congress on Palliative Care, held in Montreal Canada from the 9th to the 12th of October 2012

To attend the Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group Annual Scientific Meeting 2012, to be held in Gold Coast Australia from the 22nd –25th February 2012

To undertake a Postgraduate Diploma in Clinical Research - a two year part time course offered by Victoria University in Wellington to staff working in Clinical Research

To attend to attend The 17th International Conference on Cancer Nursing run by The International Society of Nurses in Cancer Care{ISNCC] 9-13TH September 2012, Prague, Czech Republic

Combining immunotherapy with targeted drug therapy in melanoma: effects of the BRAFV600E-targeting drug, PLX4720, on antitumour immune responses

YB-1 is a protein found in breast tumours that promotes their growth and high levels are linked with poor outcomes New generation drugs that target tumour-specific proteins are showing promise in clinical trials. In advanced melanoma patients whose tumours carry the BRAFV600E mutation, vemurafenib generates dramatic early responses and prolongs survival by several months. Nevertheless, long-term prognosis remains poor. Combination therapies are needed that increase long-term survival and reduce dependence on costly drugs. Immunotherapy has the potential to be combined with highly-targeted drugs that should not be immunosuppressive. In this project we will determine whether the BRAFV600E-targeting drug, PLX4720, affects antitumour immune responses. This knowledge will pave the way for combining immunotherapy with targeted melanoma drugs in preclinical and clinical trials.

A new look at prognostic markers in the Hodgkin Lymphoma microenvironment

Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) is one of the most common lymph node cancers in the Western world, and strikes 120 New Zealanders each year. Despite recent advances in treatment, 30% of patients do poorly with conventional therapy. The ability to predict patient responses would allow therapy to be tailored to the patient. We will use new tissue imaging techniques to investigate a molecule in HL patient tissue that seems to correlate with patients' responses to conventional therapy. These studies will help refine HL therapy but will also reveal new knowledge about how cancer cells interact with surrounding immune cells

Measured CYP2C19 activity in women with breast cancer and its effect on activation of cyclophosphamide.

Variable activity of enzymes that process drugs increases the risk of side effects or increases the chance of treatment failure. CYP2C19 is an enzyme that activates cyclophosphamide. 3% of Caucasians inherit a gene that makes them poor metabolisers. We tested CYP2C19 activity in cancer patients, 37% were poor metabolisers - but have not inherited the gene. Our aim is to see if CYP2C19 metabolism is also lost in women with breast cancer and if this decreases activation of cyclophosphamide.

The effect of high dose ascorbate on radiosensitization of glioblastoma and normal cells

Patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) have an extremely poor prognosis due to the radiation resistance of these aggressive brain tumours and acute brain toxicity at higher radiation doses. Our preliminary results show that high dose ascorbate (vitamin C) sensitizes GBM cells to radiation. The main barrier to clinical application of these findings is the lack of toxicity data on normal tissues. This project aims to determine the effect of high dose ascorbate combined with radiation on GBM cells, normal human glial cells and endothelial cells that line blood vessels in the brain and are involved in acute brain toxicities.

Early cancer genesis: telomere mechanisms and markers

Breast cancer remains a devastating problem despite intensive research. As our understanding of the genetic make-up of cancer grows, however, we are beginning to produce significant improvements in care (e.g. herceptin treatment). We wish to investigate the maintenance of chromosomal DNA ends (telomeres) which could destabilise the genetic make-up of pre-cancerous breast cells which are inherently damaged by hypoxia. If damaged telomeres occur early we may have a powerful prognostic and/ or diagnostic marker of early cancer in the breast. It will also improve our understanding of other cancers which also suffer the same changes and provide a therapeutic target.

A randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind phase 2 trial of peri-operative cimetidine in early colorectal cancer

Cancer of the large bowel is the second most common cancer in NZ but only about 60% of patients will survive it. An ulcer-healing drug, cimetidine, has shown promising results in patients having surgery for bowel cancer. Cimetidine keeps the immune system functioning after surgery and takes away "landing sites" for cancer cells that escape into the bloodstream. This appears to prevent spread of bowel cancer. Before we can set up a large trial to prove that cimetidine is effective, we need to define the optimum treatment time and how we can maximise recruitment rates from different hospitals.