Oral Presentation The Joint Annual Scientific Meetings of the Endocrine Society of Australia and the Society for Reproductive Biology 2017

Translation of a research discovery in prostate cancer with a gifted student, four patients and an international collaboration (#56)

Gail Risbridger 1
  1. Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

Prostate cancers can be indolent or very aggressive and lethal. At diagnosis, there is a need to identify  the potentially lethal tumours and manage the patients more appropriately to prolong their survival. A goal of this study was to identify features of aggressive prostate cancers. A small cohort of 4 patients known to have poor outcomes and therefore aggressive tumours was selected. A gifted student using patient derived tumours, identified a pathology that was  useful marker. Then working with a consortium, the molecular features of the tumours showed these newly diagnosed untreated tumours were more similar to heavily treated tumours from men with lethal disease and different to tumours from men at the start of their disease. These findings are an impetus to change global practice and the subject of hot debate among the clinicians managing these men.