Prostate cancer researchers (from left) Associate Professor Aniruddha Chatterjee, Dr Euan Rodger and Dr Jim Smith are working towards significantly improved diagnostic testing.
Promising Otago research into a way to better diagnose prostate cancer has received a major funding boost.
Researchers in the Faculty of Medicine – Dunedin’s Chatterjee Laboratory are delighted to have been awarded a Health Research Council of New Zealand grant of almost $1.2 million for their project to transform early prostate cancer detection with a blood-based epigenetic test.
The research project, which is jointly led by Dr Euan Rodger, Associate Professor Aniruddha Chatterjee and Dr Jim Smith, started in 2021. They want to develop an improved blood-based test that’s more accessible and equitable, and will lead to earlier and more accurate diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Euan says the research team is grateful for the three-year funding and what it can achieve.
“We’ve had some early promising results from the work we’ve already done and this is a great opportunity to expand that further. This grant gives us a great platform to take things to the next stage, working towards developing a clinical test.”
Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among men in Aotearoa New Zealand, accounting for more than 700 deaths each year.
Jim says this is the first time this particular blood-based molecular profiling will have been performed for New Zealand prostate cancer patients.
“If treated early, long-term survival rates for prostate cancer are exceptionally high. Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia have some of the highest prostate cancer rates in the world, so we stand to benefit the most from this research.”
Euan says the research is multidisciplinary, with many other investigators and collaborators involved, both in New Zealand and internationally.
Aniruddha says there is “substantial interest” from overseas researchers in this project, given the impact of prostate cancer.
“In terms of the overall burden of the disease, prostate cancer is huge.”
He says there is a lot of research into late-stage cancer for all cancer types, but the best chance of improving outcomes in any cancer is if intervention happens early.
Current detection methods can be costly and often not specific enough, leading to delayed diagnosis, unnecessary invasive investigations, and over-treatment in some cases. There is a clear need for less invasive and more precise detection tools to improve patient care.
“Our project aims to achieve this. Scientifically, it is a challenging problem, but if we can identify significant prostate cancer earlier, it creates a much greater opportunity for timely intervention and better patient outcomes.”
This approach has the potential to improve clinical decision-making, reduce unnecessary procedures, support more personalised patient management and lower healthcare costs.
Jim says the type of test the team hopes to develop needs “rigorous validation, including thorough assessment in clinical trials to demonstrate sufficient clinical benefit of the test”. He estimates they will head into the clinical trial phase towards the end of the three-year grant period.
“This is not just about detecting if something might be going on; we want to accurately predict, with a non-invasive method, the chance of someone having cancer that warrants early active treatment.”
Aniruddha says the team is working with Otago Innovation Ltd to translate its research findings into a test for patients.
Euan says, “We’re incredibly excited about the potential of this research to translate into meaningful clinical impact and ultimately make a real difference in the lives of men affected by prostate cancer.”
- Kōrero by Andrea Jones, Team Leader, Divisional Communications
The Chatterjee Laboratory
The Chatterjee Laboratory is the home of epigenetics, disease, and phenotype.
View