Extension of Movember / PCFA Funding for our Lipids and Prostate Cancer Project
Chief investigators
1st row: Dr Andrew Hoy (University of Sydney, NSW), Prof Andrew Scott (Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute, Vic).
2nd row: Prof Lisa Butler and Prof Gary Wittert (University of Adelaide).
3rd row: Prof Johan Swinnen (University of Leuven, Belgium), Prof Lisa Horvath (Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, NSW), Prof Wayne Tilley (University of Adelaide).
We are pleased to announce that our Lipids and Prostate Cancer program, funded by Movember and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, has been extended for a further 2 years until the end of 2020.
This follows strong progress during the first 3 years of the project (2015-2018) and successful application to our review panel for a project that extends our findings towards clinical translation.
Androgen hormones (e.g. testosterone), which drive prostate cancer growth, influence the generation and metabolism of lipids in prostate cancer cells, but surprisingly this is poorly understood. During the first 3 years of this project, our team of local, national and international investigators studied how lipid metabolism and obesity are linked to prostate cancer. We examined the profiles of hundreds of different types of lipids in human prostate cancers and how these relate to therapeutic response to enzalutamide (Xtandi). We identified changes in lipids and their metabolism that are associated with more aggressive disease and characterised lipid enzymes that can be targeted for prostate cancer treatments. We also found how obesity can influence PSA test results and devised new ways of detecting lipids using medical imaging probes.
During the next 2 years of this project, we will build on these results by trying to develop and pre-clinically evaluate new lipid-related drugs, confirm lipid types that can be tested in the blood to guide treatment decision-making and perform a clinical trial to determine if statin medications can reduce prostate cancer risk.
Find out more information on our Lipids and Prostate Cancer project.