Prostate & Breast Cancer Research Group

Around 50 percent of Australian men experience some type of prostate problem during their lifetime. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men. Approximately 10,000 cases are diagnosed and 2500 deaths occur each year. Benign prostate disease (BPH) is equally significant – 90 percent of all men aged over 80 will have this condition. Whilst not life threatening, BPH can have a dramatic effect on quality of life, and its management remains a pressing problem.

The group aims to provide better diagnosis and treatments for prostate cancer and benign prostate disease (BPH). Working in modern laboratories, scientists and clinicians are working together and with industry to develop more specific tests to distinguish between cancer and benign disease, and between fast and slow growing tumours.

Understanding how prostate stem cells are regulated in normal as well as diseased tissue, underpins the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.

Prostate & Breast Cancer Group Organisational Chart

Professor Gail Risbridger

Professor Gail P Risbridger is a NH&MRC Fellow, a career academic and researcher who has spent over 20 years understanding the endocrinology of male reproductive tract organs, especially the testis and prostate gland.  After graduating from Monash University she worked in teaching departments at the University, until becoming a founding member of the Monash Institute of Medical Research (MIMR). She currently heads the Prostate and Breast Cancer Research Group in the Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology at Monash University and leads an internationally recognised research team of investigators working on prostate cancer and Andrology related projects. She currently holds the position of Deputy Dean – Special Projects and Chair for Research, Centres & Institutes.

She is one of Australia’s leading prostate cancer researchers, with particular interest in the biology of stromal-epithelial cell interactions in normal and tumour tissue using tissue recombination, animal and human specimens. She pioneered the use of stem cells for recombination studies combining stem cell biology with endocrinology.

She established academic and industry collaborations to build infrastructure to underpin the national research effort in Australian Prostate Cancer Research, including a National tissue bank with Victorian State Government informatics support. She has advisory roles in Andrology Australia and the Freemasons Foundation Centre for Men’s Health. She has >167 publications, including original articles in general biomedical journals and in specialist journals of Endocrinology, Cell Biology, Urology, Pathology, Oncology & Environmental Sciences including publications in Nature Methods Nature Cancer Reviews, FASEB and American Journal of Pathology . Since 2003, she has received > $22.9 million in National and International (eg US Army DOD) grant funding related to prostate cancer. Her awards include an International Fulbright Senior Scholar Award, British Endocrine Society Asia-Oceania Medal and Honorary Life Member of Endocrine Society of Australia.

Research Group

Research Fellows

Renea Taylor

Stuart Ellem

Luc Furic

Kara Britt

Preetika Balanathan

David Pook         

Mitchell Lawrence

Paul Manohar

Itsuhiro Takizawa             

Research Assistants

Birunthi Niranjan              

Hong Wang

Michelle Richards

Shelley Hedwards

Genevieve Dall  

Melissa Papargiris  (APCC Bio Resource co-ordinator)

PhD Students

Sarah Wilkinson

Shirin Hussain

Roxanne Toivanen          

Administrative Officers

Deborah Brereton             

Margaretha Procter

Ann-Louise Carman    

Publications

2010

Vinclozolin exposure in utero induces post-pubertal prostatitis and reduces sperm production via a reversible hormone regulated mechanism 2010; Endocrinology 151(2); 783-792. Cowin PA, Gold E, Aleksova J, O’Bryan MK, Foster PMD, Scott HS, Risbridger GP.

Estrogen receptor beta activated apoptosis in benign hyperplasia and cancer of the prostate is androgen-independent and TNFα-mediated. Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences 2010; 107(7): 3123-8. McPherson SJ, Hussain S, Hedwards S, Balanathan P, Niranjan B, Grant M, Toivanen R, Wang Y, Taylor RA, Risbridger GP.

Comparative biomarker expression and RNA integrity in biospecimens derived from radical retropubic and robot assisted laparoscopic prostatectomies. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 2010; 19 (7): 1755-65. Ricciardelli C, Bianco-Miotto T, Jindal S, Dodd TJ, Cohen PA, Marshall VR, Sutherland PD, Samaratunga H, Kench, JG, Dong Y, Wang H, Clements JA, Risbridger GP, Sutherland RL, Tilley WD, Horsfall DJ.

Peripubertal aromatase inhibition in male rats has adverse long-term effects on bone strength and growth and induces prostatic hyperplasia. Journal of Endocrinology 2010; 207(1): 27-34. Bajpai A, Simm PJ, McPherson SJ, Russo, VC, Azar WJ, Wark JD, Risbridger GP, Werther GA.

Global levels of specific histone modifications and an epigenetic gene signature predict prostate cancer progression and development. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 2010; 19(10): 2611-22. Bianco-Miotto T, Chiam K, Buchanan G, Jindal S, Day TK, Thomas M, Pickering MA, O’Loughlin MAO, Ryan NK, Raymond WA, Horvath LG, Kench JG, Stricker PD, Marshall VR, Sutherlands RL, Henshall SM, Gerald WL, Scher HI, Risbridger GP, Clements JA, Butler LM, Horsfall DJ, Tilley WD, Ricciardelli C.

Breast and prostate cancer: more similar than different.  Nature Reviews Cancer 2010; 10(3): 205-12. Risbridger GP, Davis ID, Birrell S, Tilley W.

Aromatase and regulating the estrogen: androgen ratio in the prostate gland. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2010; 118(4-5): 246-51. Ellem SJ, Risbridger GP.

Stem Cells in Prostate Cancer – Treating the Root of the Problem. Endocrine-Related Cancer 2010; 17(4): R273-85. Taylor RA, Toivanen R, Risbridger GP.

2009

Inhibition of compensatory renal growth by the N-terminus of a sheep-derived peptide. Regulatory Peptides 2009; 152(1-3): 48-5. Haylor JL, Parker E, Risbridger GP, Beale D, Brown BL, Dobson PR, Clarke IJ, Hart JE.

Activin C Antagonizes Activin A in Vitro and Overexpression Leads to pathologies in Vivo. American Journal of Pathology 2009; 174(1): 184-95. Gold E, Jetty N, O’Bryan MK, Meacham S, Srinivasan D, Behuria S, Sanchez-Partida LG, Woodruff T, Hedwards S, Wang H, McDougall H, Casey V, Niranajan B, Patella S, Risbridger GP.

Elevated level of inhibin alpha subunit is pro-tumourigenic and pro-metastatic and associated with extracapsular spread in advanced prostate cancer. British Journal of Cancer 2009; 100(11): 1784-93. Balanathan P, Williams ED, Wang H, Pedersen JS, Horvarth LG, Achen MG, Stacker SA, Risbridger GP.

Increased endogenous estrogen synthesis leads to the sequential induction of prostatic inflammation (prostatitis) and prostatic pre-malignancy. American Journal of Pathology 2009; 175(3): 1187-99. Ellem SJ, Wang H, Poutanen M, Risbridger GP.

Prostate regenerating capacity of cultured human adult prostate epithelial cells. Cells Tissues Organs 2009; 191(3): 203-12. Yao M, Taylor RA, Richards MG, Sved P, Wong J, Eisinger D, Xie C, Salomon R, Risbridger GP, Dong Q.

Lineage enforcement by inductive mesenchyme on adult epithelial stem cells across developmental germ layers. Stem Cells 2009; 27(12): 3032-42. Taylor RA, Wang H, St John J, Richards MG, Vaillant F, Kindeman GJ, Visvader J, Britt K, Cunha G, Risbridger GP.

The dual, opposing roles of estrogen in the prostate. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2009; 1155: 171-86. Ellem SJ, Risbridger GP.

2008

Early-onset endocrine disruptor-induced prostatitis in the rat. Environ Health Perspect 2008; 116: 923-929. Cowin PA, Foster P, Pedersen J, Hedwards S, McPherson SJ, Risbridger GP.

Molecular profiling of bladder cancer: involvement of the TGF-beta pathway in bladder cancer progression. Cancer Lett 2008; 265: 27-38. Hung TT, Wang H, Kingsley EA, Risbridger GP, Russell PJ.

Informing men about prostate cancer screening: a randomized controlled trial of patient education materials. J Gen Intern Med 2008; 23: 466-471. Ilic D, Egberts K, McKenzie JE, Risbridger G, Green S.

Prostatic hormonal carcinogenesis is mediated by in situ estrogen production and estrogen receptor alpha signaling. FASEB J 2008; 22: 1512-1520. Ricke WA, McPherson SJ, Bianco JJ, Cunha GR, Wang Y, Risbridger GP.

Estrogen-regulated development and differentiation of the prostate. Differentiation 2008; 76: 660-670. McPherson SJ, Ellem SJ, Risbridger GP.

Minireview: regulation of prostatic stem cells by stromal niche in health and disease. Endocrinology 2008; 149: 4303-4306. Risbridger GP, Taylor RA.

Prostatic tumor stroma: a key player in cancer progression. Curr Cancer Drug Targets 2008; 8: 490-497. Taylor RA, Risbridger GP.

The path toward identifying prostatic stem cells. Differentiation 2008; 76: 671-681. Taylor RA, Risbridger GP.

Prostatic hormonal carcinogeneis is mediated by in situ estrogen production and estrogen receptor alpha-signaling. FASEB Journal  2008; 22(5): 1512-20. Ricke WA, McPherson SJ, Bianco JJ, Cunha GR, Wang Y, Risbridger GP.

2007

 

Essential role for estrogen receptor β in stromal-epithelial regulation of prostatic hyperplasia. Endocrinology 2007; 148(2): 566-74. McPherson, SJ, Ellem SJ, Simpson, ER, Patchev, V, Fritzemeier, K-H, Risbridger, GP.

Treating Prostate Cancer: A rationale for targeting local estrogens. Nature Review Cancer 2007; 7(8): 621-627. Ellem SJ, Risbridger GP.

Estrogen action on the prostate gland: A critical mix of endocrine and paracrine signalling. J Mol Endo 2007; 39(3): 183-8. Risbridger GP, Ellem SJ, McPherson SJ.