Results from a study funded by Australian Rotary Health (ARH) was aimed to identify novel treatment strategies for prostate cancer patients, which remains a leading cause of death for men in Australia.

Nancy Santiappillai from the University of Sydney received the Rotary Club of Blacktown City ‘Mel Gray’ PhD Scholarship in partnership with ARH to conduct research into prostate cancer.

The results indicated that cancer cells can be grouped by the way they use nutrients, and that these features are frequently observed among different cancer types. These results revealed that cancers such as prostate cancer can be targeted based on these features and could lead to new therapeutic opportunities.

“Different cancers can be grouped together by their metabolism to more effectively be treated by drug therapies”.

This project was the first to observe that prostate cancer cells may not be relying on fatty acids to produce energy, as previously thought. Instead, the results demonstrated that prostate and other cancer types utilise fatty acids from outside the cellular environment for other purposes.

Nancy was able to provide evidence that metabolic signatures observed in prostate cancer are also targeted across cancer lineages. The results of this project are a crucial step in identifying novel metabolic-based therapies that address the overarching goal of improving patient outcomes for men with prostate cancer.

Media contact: [email protected]       First published 6th September 2023