Medical Oncology
Dr Sid Selva-Nayagam | Professor Dorothy M K Keefe
Dr Michael Brown | Dr Anne Taylor | Dr Nimit Singhal
DR MICHAEL BROWN MBBS, FRACP FRCPA
CONSULTANT MEDICAL ONCOLOGY
Dr Brown originally trained as a clinical and laboratory immunologist. After a period of laboratory and translational research in cancer immunotherapy at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, he joined the Royal Adelaide Hospital Cancer Centre as a consultant medical oncologist in 1998. Dr Brown’s Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory in the Hanson Institute on the RAH campus continues research in cancer immunotherapy with major projects including a poxvirus-based vaccine for prostate cancer and a novel antibody for the early detection of cancer response to chemotherapy. His clinical interests particularly include melanoma, lung cancer and prostate cancer.
EXPERIMENTAL THERAPEUTICS LABORATORY
List of staff and students
Member
Dr Michael Brown
Associate Member
Dr John Hayball
Scientific staff
Dr Fares Al-Ejeh
Ms Jocelyn Darby
Ms Kerrilyn Diener
Ms Anastasia Yu
Students
Ms Emma Beukema (PhD)
Ms Cara Fraser (PhD)
Ms Erin Curry (PhD)
CURRENT GRANTS
Australian Research Council
Hayball JD, Brown MP, Howley PM, industry partner: Virax Holdings Limited
Linkage Project: Improving and manipulating the immune adjuvant properties of recombinant fowlpox vectors
2005 – 2008 $55,000 p.a.
The Cancer Council South Australia
HJ Griesser, BJ Thierry, MP Brown, P Majewski, J Taylor.
An integrated approach to the development of advanced functional nanostructures as cancer diagnostic and therapeutic agents
2007-2008. $71,000 p.a.
BioinnovationSA Commercial Development Initiative
Brown MP
A method of diagnosis and treatment and agents useful for same
2007. $31,200 p.a.
Oncaidia Ltd
Brown MP
Development of novel anti-cancer therapeutic agents
2007-2008 $180,000
Virax Holdings Ltd
Brown MP, JD Hayball
Development of a prostate cancer vaccine
2007 – 2008 $25,000 p.a.
Novartis Pharmaceuticals
N Singhal and MP Brown
Phase II Study Evaluating Efficacy and Safety of Everolimus with Letrozole for Management of Advanced (unresectable or metastatic) Non Small Cell Lung Cancer after Failure of Platinum-Based Treatment .
2007-2008 $209,920 for a 20-patient study.
Eli Lilly & Co
N Singhal and MP Brown
Study of MTAP deletions in mesothelioma tissue samples
2007 $22,313.
Amgen Europe
N Singhal, I Lewis and MP Brown
Determination of CD34+ progenitor counts and tumour cell contamination in peripheral blood samples obtained from metastatic breast cancer patients receiving docetaxel chemotherapy supported by pegfilgrastim
2007 $20,000.
PUBLICATIONS AND PATENTS in 2006-7
- Diener KR, Mouldenhauer LM, Lyons AB, Brown MP, Hayball JD. “Enhancement of cytolytic immune responses to a soluble protein antigen using a combination of human Flt-3 ligand and Complete Freund’s Adjuvant”. Exp Haematol (In press).
- Fraser C, Diener KR, Brown MP, Hayball JD. “Combining co-adjuvants to improve vaccines”. Expert Review of Vaccines 6: 559-78, 2007.
- Singhal N, Selva-Nagayam S, Brown MP. “Prolonged and severe myelosuppression in two patients after low-dose temozolomide treatment - case study and review of literature”. J Neurooncol (2007 May 26; [Epub ahead of print] DOI 10.1007/s11060-007-9403-6).
- Al-Ejeh F, Darby JM, Brown MP. The La autoantigen is a malignancy-associated cell death target that is induced by DNA-damaging drugs. Clin Cancer Res (In Press, 2007).
- Al-Ejeh F, Darby JM, Pensa K, Diener KR, Hayball JD, Brown MP. In vivo targeting of dead tumor cells in a murine tumor model using a monoclonal antibody specific for the La autoantigen. Clin Cancer Res (In Press, 2007).
- Brown MP, Buckley MF, Rudzki B, Olver IN. Why we will need to learn new skills to control cancer. Int Med J 37: 201-4, 2007.
- Beukema EL, Brown MP, Hayball JD. The potential role of fowlpox virus in rational vaccine design. Expert Review of Vaccines 5: 565-577, 2006.
- Butler LM, Centenera MM, Neufing PJ, Buchanan G, Choong CS, Ricciardelli C, Saint K, Lee MA, Ochnik A, Yang M, Brown MP and Tilley WD. Suppression of androgen receptor signalling in prostate cancer cells by an inhibitory receptor variant. Mol Endocrinol 20: 1009-1024, 2006.
- Rousseau RF, Biagi E, Dutour A, Yvon ES, Brown MP, Lin T, Mei Z, Grilley B, Popek E, Heslop HE, Gee AP, Krance RA, Popat U, Carrum G, Margolin JF, Brenner MK. Immunotherapy of high-risk acute leukemia with a recipient (autologous) vaccine expressing transgenic human CD40L and IL-2 after chemotherapy and allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Blood 107: 1332-41, 2006.
- Lees JR, Hayball JD, Diener K, Brown MP, Matusik R, Cohen MB, Ratliff TL. “T-cell Recognition of a Prostate Specific Antigen is not Sufficient to Induce Prostate Tissue Destruction”. Prostate 66: 578-90, 2006.
- F Al-Ejeh, JM Darby and MP Brown. Methods for optimizing radioimmunoconjugates and their effects on antibody activity. Cancer Biother Radiopharm 21: 400, 2006.
- B Thierry, F Al-Ejeh, P Majewsky, H Griesser and MP Brown. Immunotargeting of advanced functional nanostructures for cancer diagnosis and treatment. Cancer Biother Radiopharm 21: 385, 2006.
- MP Brown, JM Darby, K Pensa, KR Diener, JD Hayball, F Al-Ejeh. Investigation of a novel cell-death ligand to evaluate tumor chemoresponsiveness. Cancer Biother Radiopharm 21: 390, 2006.
PATENTS
- International Patent Application No. PCT/AU2006/000431; Publication No. WO/2006/102716 “A method of diagnosis and treatment and agents useful for same”. Inventor: MP Brown. Published October 5, 2006 in the name of MedVet Science Pty Ltd.
- U.S. Provisional Patent Application “A method of diagnosis and treatment and agents useful for same”. Inventors: F Al-Ejeh, JM Darby, MP Brown. Filed October 11, 2006 in the name of Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science.
- U.S. Provisional Patent Application “A method of diagnosis and treatment and agents useful for same”. Inventors: F Al-Ejeh, JM Darby, MP Brown. Filed October 11, 2006 in the name of Institute of Medical and Veterinary Science.
LIST AWARDS/HONOURS RECEIVED BY GROUP MEMBERS
Emma Beukema – Australasian Society for Immunology Young Investigator Travel Award.
Erin Curry – Royal Adelaide Hospital/IMVS Research Committee Honours Scholarship.
LIST OF INVITED PRESENTATIONS AT NATIONAL OR INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS 2006-7
International:
“Immunotargeting of advanced functional nanostructures for cancer diagnosis and treatment”. 11th Conference on Cancer Therapy with Antibodies and Immunoconjugates, Parsippany, NJ, USA (12 October, 2006).
“Investigation of a novel cell-death ligand to evaluate tumor chemoresponsiveness.” 11th Conference on Cancer Therapy with Antibodies and Immunoconjugates, Parsippany, NJ, USA (13 October, 2006).
“Immunotherapeutic approaches to breast cancer”. 1st Kuala Lumpur Breast and Colorectal Cancer Congress (hosted by the Malaysian Oncology Society) (9-11 August 2007).
“Triple-negative breast cancer: epidemiology, biology and treatment”. 1st Kuala Lumpur Breast and Colorectal Cancer Congress (hosted by the Malaysian Oncology Society) (9-11 August 2007).
National:
“Targeting nanovectors for molecular imaging and therapeutic applications in cancer.” Workshop on Advanced Nanostructure, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide (4 May, 2006).
“Adjuvant chemotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer.” Educational Breakfast Seminar, 9th Cancer Nurses Society of Australia Winter Congress, Adelaide (14 July 2006).
“Investigation of a novel cell-death ligand to evaluate tumor chemoresponsiveness.” 37th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine, Adelaide, April 29, 2007.
“Investigation of novel radioimmunotherapy in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy”. 37th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine, Adelaide, May 1, 2007.
“Cancer Immunotherapy”, World Immunology Day, South Australian Museum, Adelaide (29 April, 2007).
LAY DESCRIPTION OF RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENTS FOR 2006-7
Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory
In the Experimental Therapeutics Laboratory,we are pursuing three major lines of research. (i) Providing proof-of-concept and enabling data for a new approach to identifying tumour chemoresponsiveness in vivo. We have used a monoclonal antibody specific for the La autoantigen to target dead tumour cells particularly after induction of the antigen with DNA damaging agents. This work was presented at a major international conference and has been licensed to Oncaidia Ltd, which will list on the Australian Stock Exchange. (ii) Demonstrating that a genetically-engineered chicken virus can be used as a potential vaccine against prostate cancer. Final data are being prepared for submission to the Therapeutic Goods Administration. (iii) Improving genetically-engineered chicken viruses as vaccines by manipulating their ability to induce an immune response in an experimental model system. This work is funded by the Australian Research Council in partnership with Virax.