Alliance Member Award Success
Dr Patrick Ling, a Vice Chancellor Research Fellow at the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Centre – Queensland (APCRC-Q), the Australian hub for the Australian Prostate Cancer Research Alliance (Aus-CanPCRA), was awarded the “Best Oral Free Paper Presentation at the 8th Organization of Oncology and Translation Research Conference (OOTR) in Japan.
The title of the presentation was “Gamma-Tocotrienol as an effective agent in targeting prostate cancer stem cell-like population”. This is a great representation of the work Dr Ling is undertaking in the usefulness of Vitamin E in reducing tumour growth in prostate cancer.
"Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer in developed countries," Dr Ling said.
"It is responsible for more male deaths than any other cancer, except lung cancer."
Dr Ling, a member of the Aus-CanPCRA, said existing chemotherapy and hormonal therapy treatment of prostate cancer was insufficient because it failed to kill off the prostate cancer stem cells (CSCs) which were believed to be responsible for the regrowth of tumours.
However, the research team have discovered a particular form of T3, called gamma-tocotrienol (γ-T3), can successfully kill off the prostate cancer CSCs.
"Currently there is no effective treatment for metastatic prostate cancer, because it grows back after conventional therapies in more than 70 per cent of cases," he said.
"But with γ-T3, APCRC-Q researchers have found a better way to treat prostate cancer, which has the potential to inhibit recurrence of the disease."
Dr Ling said in preclinical trials, γ-T3 completely inhibited tumour formation in more than 70 per cent of the mice implanted with prostate cancer cells and fed the vitamin E constituent in water. In the remaining cases, tumour regrowth was considerably reduced, while tumours formed in 100 per cent of the control group.
The findings were published in 2011 in the International Journal of Cancer.
Dr Ling continues his study into the molecular mechanisms that underlie prostate cancer development. He is also interested in investigating the application of fundamental research to the development of improved treatments for hormone-refractory prostate cancer.
