Uropath-Tissugen Prostate Cancer Research Centre

Chief Investigators 

Dr Ronald J Cohen, Pathologist1,2
Dr Beverley A Shannon, Research Officer2

Affiliations

1. Uropath Pty. Ltd.
2. Tissugen Pty. Ltd.

Research Activity

Uropath is a private pathology provider based in Perth, Western Australia. Uropath specializes in urologic pathology and is also dedicated to urological research, funding the associated research company Tissugen. Both companies were established by Dr Ronald Cohen, who runs the pathology practice. Since 1998 Uropath has been collecting a tissue bank of frozen prostate tissues and entering patient pathological information and clinical follow up details into a radical prostatectomy database. This Abbott-West Australian Radical Prostatectomy Database presently holds information on over 2000 patients and is currently accruing around 600 cases per annum. Uropath is also in the process of establishing a prostate biopsy database, including retrospective entry of data from all 13,000 prostate biopsies received since 1998. These databases and the corresponding archival tissue samples (frozen and/or fixed and paraffin-embedded) are being used for research projects to refine and improve diagnosis and treatment for Australian prostate cancer patients, under approval of the Hollywood Private Hospital Research Ethics Committee. A current project is development of prognostic postoperative nomograms that are specific for West Australian radical prostatectomy patients, for use by local urologists to determine the need for further treatment.

Research at Tissugen has primarily been focused on investigating a possible infectious etiology for prostate cancer and developing diagnostic tests for a candidate bacterial causative agent that we have identified by culture of fresh prostate tissues from cancer patients. We are currently involved in collaborative projects with the Victoria Cancer Council and with prostate cancer research groups working at Umea University in Sweden and Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Major prostate cancer related grants (last 5 years)

RF027: Prevalence of P. acnes subtypes in the urinary tract of prostate cancer patients and control volunteers. 2005-2006, $19,440. Hollywood Private Hospital Research Foundation. R Cohen, B Shannon, K Garrett.

WA Surgical Prostate Cancer Database. 2006, $33,000. WA Clinical Oncology Group, The Cancer Council of Western Australia. R Cohen, K Garrett.

Establishment of a Prostate Biopsy Database. 2007-2008, $83,000. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. R Cohen, K Garrett.

Selected prostate cancer related publications (last 5 years)

Cohen RJ, Shannon BA, McNeal JE, Shannon T, Garrett KL. Propionibacterium acnes associated with inflammation in radical prostatectomy specimens: a possible link to cancer evolution? J Urol 173:1969-74, 2005.

Cohen RJ. Neuroendocrine Carcinoma of the Prostate Gland. Pathology 37: 326-7, 2005.

Shannon BA, Garrett KL, Cohen RJ. PCR-based identification of Propionibacterium acnes types isolated from the male urinary tract: evaluation of adolescents, normal adults and males with prostatic pathology. BJU Int 98:388-92, 2006.

Shannon BA, Garrett KL, Cohen RJ. Links between Propionibacterium acnes and Prostate Cancer. Fut Oncol 2:225-32, 2006.

Cohen RJ, Wheeler TM, Bonkhoff H, Rubin MA. A proposal on the identification histologic reporting and implications of intraductal prostatic carcinoma. Arch Path Lab Med 131:1103-9, 2007.

Chen RJ, Shannon BA, Weinstein SL. Intraductal carcinoma of the prostate gland with transmucosal spread to the seminal vesicle: a lesion distinct from high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. Arch Path Lab Med 131:1122-5, 2007.

Cohen RJ, Shannon BA. Tubulovillous adenoma of the prostatic urethra: a rare and usually indolent lesion distinct from prostatic adenocarcinoma. Pathology 39:522-4, 2007.

Shannon BA, Garrett K, Cohen RJ. The antibody response to Propionibacterium acnes is an independent predictor of serum prostate-specific antigen levels in biopsy-negative men. BJU Int 101:429-35, 2008.

Alexeyev OA, Marklund B, Shannon B, Golovleva I, Olsson J, Andersson C, Eriksson I, Cohen R, Elgh F. Direct visualization of Propionibacterium acnes in prostate tissue by multicolor fluorescent in situ hybridization assay. J Clin Microbiol 45:3721-8, 2007.

Cohen RJ, Shannon BA, Phillips M, Moorin RE, Wheeler TM, Garrett KL. Central zone carcinoma of the prostate gland: a distinct tumor type with poor prognostic features. J Urol179:1762-7, 2008.

Shannon BA, Cohen RJ, Garrett K. Influence of 16S rDNA primer sequence mismatches on the spectrum of bacterial genera detected in prostate tissue by universal eubacterial PCR. Prostate 68:1487-91, 2008.

International Patents

PCT/AU99/00698 Multiple countries, 1999. Cohen RJ. "Method of diagnosis of prostate cancer"

PCT/AU2005/000355 Multiple countries, 2005. Cohen RJ, Shannon BA, Garrett KL. "Infectious aetiology of prostatic disease and methods to identify causative agents"

PCT/AU2008/000105 Australia, 2008. Cohen RJ, Shannon BA. "A method for diagnosing prostatic disease"