Dr Renea Taylor - Researcher Profile

Renea Taylor

Address

Monash Institute of Medical Research
Monash Medical Centre, Clayton

Contact Details

Tel: +61 3 9902 9558

Email: Renea.Taylor@monash.edu


Biography

Researcher takes on the ‘king’ cells of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer kills 3000 Australian men every year, but research into the disease lags far behind that for breast cancer, which causes a similar number of female deaths annually. It is an imbalance Dr Renea Taylor is working to address through her research into the biology of the cells that cause prostate cancer. Armed with this information, she hopes to develop more effective treatments.

Renea says her research indicates that prostate cancer involves a kind of stem cell that is the source of cancerous growths. Identifying and removing these cells is essential to successful treatment so that the cancer does not grow back.

“If initial treatments fail to remove all of these stem-like cells, the cancer can regrow, either in the prostate itself or move to other parts of the body where other tumours form.” She says if these cells escape the original treatment they become resistant to follow-up treatments including chemotherapy and hormone therapy. “These are the ‘king’ of cancer cells. They’re smart and adaptable.”

Using human biological samples from surgically removed prostate tumours, Renea has been able to identify and collect these stem cells for biological studies.

“We think that every tumour has some of these cells. By understanding what these look like and how they behave, we may make some progress towards devising better drugs for patients to stop the cancer from coming back after initial treatments.”

A second project Renea is working on involves understanding the biology of the prostate cancer stoma cells. These cells provide the support network for the stem-like cells that allows a tumour to grow.

Renea says that in addition to targeting the stem cells, the stomal or ‘supporting’ cells also need to be stopped in order to prevent regrowth of cancerous tumours. In this way, halting the stomal cells would effectively cut off the food supply to the tumour.

A better understanding of the biology of these cells is expected to help develop drugs that can offer alternatives to the current treatments, which she describes as difficult for patients to deal with.

Working with doctors from the Monash Medical Centre and Cabrini Hospital, she links basic laboratory research with clinical practice, working with the oncologists and surgeons who see patients every day. This interaction continues to inspire her work, as do the men in her life – her father, two brothers, husband and son.

“The trick to encourage men to be proactive in seeking regular checks for early detection of prostate cancer. The awareness of prostate cancer is heightened when celebrities are diagnosed and go public with their stories, but men need to be vigilant with their health.”

The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia is a major supporter of her research, which also receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council and the Australian Research Council. Renea says her family is a big supporter of Movember, growing moustaches to help raise funds for prostate cancer research, some of which makes its way back into the projects she is involved in.

Keywords

prostate cancer, stem cells, tumour microenvironment

Qualifications

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 2005
SCIENCE (HONS)
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 1998

Publications

Book Chapters

Niranjan, B., Lawrence, M.G., Papargiris, M., Richards, M.G., Hussain, S., Frydenberg, M., Pedersen, J.S., Taylor, R.A., Risbridger, G.P., 2013, Primary culture and propagation of human prostate epithelial cells, in Methods in Molecular Biology - Epithelial Cell Culture Protocols V945, eds SH Randell and ML Fulcher, Humana Press, USA, pp. 365-382.

Risbridger, G.P., Taylor, R.A., 2006, Physiology of the male accessory sex structures: the prostate gland, seminal vesicles, and bulbourethral glands, in Knobil and Neill's Physiology of Reproduction, eds Jimmy D O'Neill, Tony M Plant, Donald W Pfaff, John RG Challis, David M de Kretser, JoAnne S Richards, Paul M Wassarman, Elsevier, St Louis Missouri USA, pp. 1149-1172.

Journal Articles

Toivanen, R., Taylor, R.A., Pook, D.W., Ellem, S.J., Risbridger, G.P., 2012, Breaking through a roadblock in prostate cancer research: An update on human model systems, Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology [P], vol 131, issue 3-5, Pergamon, UK, pp. 122-131.

Hussain, S., Lawrence, M.G., Taylor, R.A., Lo, C.Y., APC BioResource, Frydenberg, M., Ellem, S.J., Furic, L., Risbridger, G.P., 2012, Estrogen Receptor beta Activation Impairs Prostatic Regeneration by Inducing Apoptosis in Murine and Human Stem/Progenitor Enriched Cell Populations, PLoS ONE [P], vol 7, issue 7, Public Library of Science, USA, pp. e40732-1-e40732-9.

Centenera, M.M., Gillis, J.L., Hanson, A., Jindal, S., Taylor, R., Risbridger, G.P., Sutherland, P.D., Scher, H.I., Raj, G.V., Knudsen, K.E., Yeadon, T., Tilley, W.D., Butler, L.M., 2012, Evidence for efficacy of new Hsp90 inhibitors revealed by ex vivo culture of human prostate tumors, Clinical Cancer Research [P], vol 18, issue 13, American Association for Cancer Research, USA, pp. 3561-3570.

Taylor, R.A., Toivanen, R., Frydenberg, M., Pedersen, J.S., Harewood, L., Australian Prostate Cancer Bio, Collins, A.T., Maitland, N.J., Risbridger, G.P., 2012, Human Epithelial Basal Cells Are Cells of Origin of Prostate Cancer, Independent of CD133 Status, Stem Cells [P], vol 30, issue 6, AlphaMed Press Inc, USA, pp. 1087-1096.

Toivanen, R., Berman, D., Wang, H., Pedersen, J., Frydenberg, M., Meeker, A., Ellem, S., Risbridger, G., Taylor, R., 2011, Brief report: A bioassay to identify primary human prostate cancer repopulating cells, Stem Cells [P], vol 29, issue 8, Wiley-Blackwell, USA, pp. 1310-1314.

Risbridger, G.P., Taylor, R.A., 2011, The complexities of identifying a cell of origin for human prostate cancer, Asian Journal of Andrology [P], vol 13, issue 1, Nature Publishing Group, USA & China, pp. 118-119.

McPherson, S.J., Hussain, S., Balanathan, P., Hedwards, S.L., Niranjan, B., Grant, M., Chandrasiri, U.P., Toivanen, R., Wang, Y., Taylor, R.A., Risbridger, G.P., 2010, Estrogen receptor-beta activated apoptosis in benign hyperplasia and cancer of the prostate is androgen independent and TNFalpha mediated, Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences O..., vol 107, issue 7, National Academy of Sciences, USA, pp. 3123-3128.

Yao, M., Taylor, R.A., Richards, M.G., Sved, P., Wong, J., Eisinger, D., Xie, C., Salomon, R., Risbridger, G.P., Dong, Q., 2010, Prostate-regenerating capacity of cultured human adult prostate epithelial cells, Cells Tissues Organs [P], vol 191, issue 3, S. Karger AG, Switzerland, pp. 203-212.

Taylor, R.A., Toivanen, R., Risbridger, G.P., 2010, Stem cells in prostate cancer: Treating the root of the problem, Endocrine-Related Cancer [P], vol 17, issue 4, BioScientifica Ltd, UK, pp. R273-R285.

Taylor, R.A., Wang, H., Wilkinson, S., Richards, M.G., Britt, K.L., Vaillant, F., Lindeman, G.J., Visvader, J.E., Cunha, G.R., St John, J.C., Risbridger, G.P., 2009, Lineage enforcement by inductive mesenchyme on adult epithelial stem cells across developmental germ layers, Stem Cells [P], vol 27, issue 12, Aplhamed Press, USA, pp. 3032-3042.

Risbridger, G.P., Taylor, R.A., 2008, Minireview: Regulation of prostatic stem cells by stromal niche in health and disease, Endocrinology, vol 149, issue 9, The Endocrine Society, USA, pp. 4303-4306.

Taylor, R.A., Risbridger, G.P., 2008, Prostatic tumor stroma: A key player in cancer progression, Current Cancer Drug Targets, vol 8, issue 6, Bentham Science Publishers Ltd., Netherlands, pp. 490-497.

Taylor, R.A., Risbridger, G.P., 2008, The path toward identifying prostatic stem cells, Differentiation, vol 76, issue 6, Elsevier Ltd., UK, USA, pp. 671-681.

Taylor, R.A., Cowin, P.A., Couse, J.F., Korach, K.S., Risbridger, G.P., 2006, 17beta-Estradiol induces apoptosis in the developing rodent prostate independently of ERalpha or ERbeta, Endocrinology, vol 147, issue 1, Endocrine Society, Chevy Chase MD USA, pp. 191-200.

Taylor, R.A., Cowin, P., Cunha, G.R., Pera, M.F., Trounson, A.O., Pedersen, J.S., Risbridger, G.P., 2006, Formation of human prostate tissue from embryonic stem cells., Nature Methods, vol 3, issue 3, Nature Publishing Group, London England, pp. 179-181.

Jarred, R.A., Mcpherson, S.J., Jones, M.E.E., Simpson, E.R., Risbridger, G.P., 2003, Anti-androgenic action by red clover-derived dietary isoflavones reduces non-malignant prostate enlargement in aromatase knockout (ArKO) mice, The Prostate, vol 56, Wiley-Liss, New York USA, pp. 54-64.

Jarred, R.A., Keihka, M.M., Dowling, C.R., Mcpherson, S.J., Clare, A.M., Husband, A., Pedersen, J., Frydenberg, M., Risbridger, G., 2002, Induction of Apoptosis in Low to Moderate-Grade Human Prostate Carcinoma by Red Clover-derived Dietary Isoflavones, Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers & Prevention, vol 11, issue 12, American Association of Cancer Research, Birmingham Alabama USA, pp. 1689-1696.

Jarred, R.A., Mcpherson, S.J., Bianco, J.J., Couse, J.F., Korach, K.S., Risbridger, G., 2002, Prostate phenotypes in estrogen-modulated transgenic mice, TRENDS in Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol 13, issue 4, Elsevier Science Ltd, London UK, pp. 163-168.

Cancilla, B., Jarred, R.A., Wang, H., Mellor, S.L., Cunha, G.R., Risbridger, G., 2001, Regulation of prostate branching morphogenesis by activin A and follistatin, Developmental Biology, vol 237, Academic Press Inc, San Diego California USA, pp. 145-158.

Jarred, R., Cancilla, B., Prins, G.S., Thayer, K.A., Cunha, G.R., Risbridger, G.P., 2000, Evidence that estrogens directly alter androgen-regulated prostate development, Endocrinology, vol 141(9), Endocrine Society, Bethesda USA, pp. 3471-3477.

Jarred, R., Cancilla, B., Richards, M., Groome, N.P., McNatty, K.P., Risbridger, G.P., 1999, Differential localization of inhibin subunit proteins in the ovine testis during fetal donadal development, Endocrinology, vol 140, Endocrine Soc, Methesda MD USA, pp. 979-986.

Conference Proceedings

Jarred, R., Cancilla, B., Groome, N.P., McNatty, K.P., Risbridger, G.P., 1997, Differential localisation of inhibin subunit proteins in the ovine testis during fetal gonadal development, Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference. Australian Society for Reproductive Biology, 29/9/97-1/10/97 Canberra, Aust Society for Reproductive Biology, Canberra ACT Australia, p. 80.

Other

Risbridger, G.P., Almahbobi, G.A., Jarred, R.A., 2005, Early prostate development and its association with late-life prostate disease, Cell and Tissue Research, vol 322, Springer, New York USA, pp. 173-181.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Completed Supervision

Student:
Toivanen, R.
Program of Study:
Modelling stromal- cancer cell interactions in prostate tumours. (PHD) 2012.
Supervisors:
Risbridger, G (Joint-Co), Taylor, R (Joint).
Student:
Wilkinson, S.
Program of Study:
Stromal Hedgehog signalling in prostate epithelial transformation. (PHD) 2012.
Supervisors:
Risbridger, G (Main), Taylor, R (Associate).