Blood test can guide treatment for most aggressive prostate cancer

Heidi Fettke

School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS) researcher Heidi Fettke and A/Prof Arun Azad from Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, in collaboration with Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, have developed a simple blood test that can show which men with the most aggressive type of prostate cancer should respond to conventional therapy, and those who need other options. 

Heide Fettke's PhD confirmation, "Circulating tumour DNA: identifying markers of therapeutic resistance and response in advanced prostate cancer", 20 March

All staff and students are invited to Heide Fettke's PhD confirmation.

20 March, 11am, Seminar room 3, TRF level 2

Synopsis:  The last several years has seen the approval of multiple new therapies for advanced prostate cancer that target the androgen receptor (AR) axis. Despite improvements in clinical outcomes, resistance to these agents is inevitable. This project aims to design and implement a highly sensitive next-generation sequencing assay capable of identifying prostate-cancer associated mutations in patient circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) in order to understand therapeutic response and resistance.

Supervisors: A/Prof Arun Azad, Prof Melissa Southey

Expression of Androgen Receptor Splice Variant 7 or 9 in Whole Blood Does Not Predict Response to Androgen-Axis-targeting Agents in Metastatic Castration-resistant Prostate Cancer

Arun Azad et al. published in European Urology.

Read article here.

Monash prostate cancer research highlighted at scientific conferences

Dr Sarah To

Congratulations Dr Sarah To and Ms Heidi Fettke from the Prostate Cancer Therapeutics laboratory, who have been selected present their research at forthcoming conferences.

Postdoctoral researcher Dr To will present at the AACR Special Conference on Prostate Cancer in Orlando in December while PhD candidate Ms Fettke will present at the 4th Thomas Ashworth CTC and Liquid Biopsy Symposium in Sydney next week.

Ms Heidi Fettke

The Prostate Cancer Therapeutics laboratory headed by Associate Professor Arun Azad focuses on circulating androgen receptor variants in prostate cancer patients.

"Binding of androgens such as testosterone to the androgen receptor (AR) fuels the growth of prostate cancer cells,” Associate Professor Azad said.

“Therefore, the mainstay of treating advanced prostate cancer is to lower androgen levels within the body using androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).”

Androgen receptor splice variants (ARVs) are altered forms of the AR which are continuously activated and have been linked to resistance to ADT.

Associate Professor Azad’s group has now shown that detection of ARVs within the blood is not in fact associated with resistance to ADT.

“These findings are supported by the results of a recent pivotal clinical trial and have potentially key implications for the use of ADT in men with advanced prostate cancer", Associate Professor Azad said.

SCS student wins top prize in Immunology

SCS PhD student Ms Heidi Fettke

Congratulations Heidi Fettke, a translational PhD student at the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health (SCS), who has been awarded the prestigious Nairn Prize in Immunology.

The Nairn Prize is given to the top Honours student each year enrolled in immunology at Monash University.

Heidi was awarded the Nairn Prize in Immunology for her Bachelor of Science (Honours) project, where she investigated the potential role of the c-Myc oncogene in driving expression of an immuno-inhibitory molecule, PD-L1, in glioblastoma tumours (a lethal brain cancer).  Heidi completed her project under the supervision of Professor Terrance Johns, Centre for Cancer Research at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research.

Heidi is currently researching biomarkers in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer under the supervision of Associate Professor Arun Azad, Department of Medicine.