Dr Kate Vandyke

My current research interests involve elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for the disease progression in the bone marrow cancer multiple myeloma. Myeloma is the second most common blood cancer, responsible for approximately 80,000 deaths per year, world-wide. While significant advances in myeloma treatment over the past decade have greatly improved survival rates for multiple myeloma, almost all patients eventually relapse and succumb to their disease. My studies are primarily aimed at identifying those patients that do very poorly, surviving less than 2 years, and identifying tailored treatments for this group of patients.

The progression and relapse of myeloma tumours is critically dependent on the ability of the myeloma tumour cells to disseminate to sites throughout the skeleton. In particular, previous studies have identified that those patients with highly disseminated disease at diagnosis do particularly poorly, leading to rapid disease progression and disease relapse. One of my primary research interests focuses on identifying the intrinsic and extrinsic factors involved in the recirculation and dissemination process in myeloma with the aim of developing therapeutic strategies that will prevent disease progression and overt relapse in these patients.

https://health.adelaide.edu.au/florey120anniversary/our-current-health-leaders/decoding-myeloma-cancer

Current projects include:

• Identification of novel prognostic factors that identify patients at a high risk of disease progression in myeloma
• Investigation of the mechanisms controlling the dissemination of myeloma plasma cells, including hypoxia, chemokine receptors and N-cadherin
• Identification of novel therapeutic targets for the treatment of high-risk multiple myeloma
• Characterisation of the off-target effects of a class of leukaemia drugs, termed tyrosine kinase inhibitors, on bone metabolism and skeletal growth