Treatment for breast cancer enhanced with anti-Leukaemia compound Posted on July 9, 2013February 25, 2018 by Carly du Toit More than two decades of research at the Walter and Eliza Hall institute (WEHI) in Melbourne has culminated in a potentially life-saving discovery for women with the most common form of breast cancer. In the late 1980s scientists at the WEHI identified a “pro-survival” protein called BCL-2 that helps cancer cells to become immortal and resist treatments such as chemotherapy. This work has contributed to the development of a compound which neutralises this vital cancer protein, and it is now in clinical trials to treat some types of leukaemia. But latest news from the WEHI is that this compound has even more potential. In 85% of women with oestrogen receptor-positive (or ER-positive) breast cancer, researchers have found very high levels of the very same BCL-2 protein. Using the world-class facilities made possible through ACRF funding they were able to trial this ant-cancer compound in pre-clinical ER-positive breast cancer models, and found that it was successful when combined with an existing breast cancer drug, Tamoxifen. Continue reading “Treatment for breast cancer enhanced with anti-Leukaemia compound”
ACRF opens two new cancer research facilities in Melbourne Posted on August 7, 2012February 25, 2018 by Carly du Toit Two new ACRF-funded cancer research facilities at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have today been officially opened by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Councillor Robert Doyle. Thanks to a $2 million ACRF grant, these new divisions will expand the institute’s current cancer research into the causes and treatments for some of the most prevalent cancers in Australia. In particular the ACRF Stem Cells and Cancer Division will study the biology of epithelial cancers – which account for 80% of human cancers – including breast, lung and ovarian cancers. Continue reading “ACRF opens two new cancer research facilities in Melbourne”
ACRF rep heads breast cancer breakthrough Posted on December 13, 2005February 25, 2018 by Carly du Toit ACRF Medical Research Advisory Committee member Professor Geoff Lindeman is at the head of a research team that has moved one step closer to understanding the genesis of breast cancer. The research project – at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne – induced mice to grow new mammary glands, complete with milk ducts, from stem cells. It opens the possibility that complex organs, such as lungs, intestines and breasts, could be grown for humans. It is also the first time a complex organ – other than the skin – has been grown from a single stem cell, prompting eminent WEHI cell biologist Doug Hilton to hail it “possibly the most significant medical research advance to come out of Melbourne in the past decade”. As well as helping scientists to understand the development of other organs, the project has important ramifications for cancer research. Scientists will be able to investigate how gene mutations occur, disrupting normal mammary development and eventually causing breast cancer. Continue reading “ACRF rep heads breast cancer breakthrough”
