1994 $1 million grant

Director of Research: Professor Howard Morris

Cancer Type: Breast cancer and leukaemia

Research Focus: Leukaemia and solid cancers

An interstate collaboration between a team of scientists from St Vincent’s Institute, Melbourne and Hanson Institute, Adelaide , has unravelled the structure of a cell-signalling receptor which will lead to the discovery of new, less invasive drugs to treat leukemia. Both institutes were separately awarded grants from the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF)

Download the full media release and diagrams here.

Breakthroughs don’t happen every day, but when Australia’s best scientists have access to significant support from organisations such as the ACRF, ultimately we will get results, as this latest breakthrough shows.

The Australian Cancer Research Foundation awarded a $1 million grant in 1994 to Hansen Institute for a project aimed at identifying several gene mutations that make leukemic cells resistant to the new drug, imatinib and also to new tumour suppressor genes that prevent the smooth division and normal growth of breast cells.

Further Outcomes / Details:

  • Appointment of Associate Professor David Callen as Head of the Breast Cancer Genetic Group. His group identified the two new tumour suppressor genes that code for molecules that prevent the smooth division and growth of breast cells.
  • This new understanding will help to better understand how normal cells develop into breast cancer, the ultimate aim being to find new molecular targets for anti-cancer drugs.
  • Research on chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) continues to be a major focus at the Hanson Institute with the challenge being to maximise the effectiveness of new treatments in the face of the body’s own resistance.
  • Researchers are concentrating on the new drug, imatinib. It specifically targets the causative defect in CML. In 2003 the group identified several gene mutations that made the leukemia cells resistant to imatinib. These results will be essential for identifying patients most likely to relapse.

2002 Update by Director, Professor John Gollan

  • The Hanson Institute has expanded cancer research conducted within the Hanson Centre for Cancer Research with the appointment by the University of Adelaide of Professor Wayne Tilley as the Dame Roma Mitchell Professorial Chair in Cancer Research. His research unit is housed in a new suite of research laboratories provided by the Hanson Institute and primarily involves cancers of the prostate and breast. Drs Michael Brown and Dorothy Keefe, oncologists at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, also lead groups conducting basic laboratory cancer research in these laboratories.
  • This work complements the extensive work on haematological malignancies conducted within the Hanson Institute. Significant advances were made during 2002 in unraveling the molecular signals responsible for the growth of new blood vessels, an essential step in the development of solid tumours. Blood vessels supply oxygen, an essential factor for all living processes including cancer tissues.
  • These studies have identified a novel special structure in one of the molecules required for production of the blood vessel growth factor, which stimulates the production of this blood vessel growth factor at a time when other molecules are being destroyed because of low oxygen levels. This work identifies a potential new target for the development of anti-cancer treatments.
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