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- A multi-pronged approach to targeting myeloproliferative neoplasms
- A new paradigm of machine learning-based structural variant detection
- A whole lot of junk or a treasure trove of discovery?
- Advanced imaging interrogation of pathogen induced NETosis
- Analysing the metabolic interactions in brain cancer
- Atopic dermatitis causes and treatments
- Boosting the efficacy of immunotherapy in lung cancer
- Building a cell history recorder using synthetic biology for longitudinal patient monitoring
- Characterisation of malaria parasite proteins exported into infected liver cells
- Deciphering the heterogeneity of the tissue microenvironment by multiplexed 3D imaging
- Defining the mechanisms of thymic involution and regeneration
- Delineating the molecular and cellular origins of liver cancer to identify therapeutic targets
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- Developing statistical frameworks for analysing next generation sequencing data
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- Discovering epigenetic silencing mechanisms in female stem cells
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- Dissecting mechanisms of cytokine signalling
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- Epigenetics – genome wide multiplexed single-cell CUT&Tag assay development
- Exploiting cell death pathways in regulatory T cells for cancer immunotherapy
- Exploiting the cell death pathway to fight Schistosomiasis
- Finding treatments for chromatin disorders of intellectual disability
- Functional epigenomics in human B cells
- How do nutrition interventions and interruption of malaria infection influence development of immunity in sub-Saharan African children?
- Human lung protective immunity to tuberculosis
- Improving therapy in glioblastoma multiforme by activating complimentary programmed cell death pathways
- Innovating novel diagnostic tools for infectious disease control
- Integrative analysis of single cell RNAseq and ATAC-seq data
- Interaction with Toxoplasma parasites and the brain
- Interactions between tumour cells and their microenvironment in non-small cell lung cancer
- Investigation of a novel cell death protein
- Malaria: going bananas for sex
- Mapping spatial variation in gene and transcript expression across tissues
- Mechanisms of Wnt secretion and transport
- Multi-modal computational investigation of single-cell communication in metastatic cancer
- Nanoparticle delivery of antibody mRNA into cells to treat liver diseases
- Naturally acquired immune response to malaria parasites
- Organoid-based discovery of new drug combinations for bowel cancer
- Organoid-based precision medicine approaches for oral cancer
- Removal of tissue contaminations from RNA-seq data
- Reversing antimalarial resistance in human malaria parasites
- Role of glycosylation in malaria parasite infection of liver cells, red blood cells and mosquitoes
- Screening for novel genetic causes of primary immunodeficiency
- Single-cell ATAC CRISPR screening – Illuminate chromatin accessibility changes in genome wide CRISPR screens
- Spatial single-cell CRISPR screening – All in one screen: Where? Who? What?
- Statistical analysis of single-cell multi-omics data
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- The role of ribosylation in co-ordinating cell death and inflammation
- Understanding Plasmodium falciparum invasion of red blood cells
- Understanding cellular-cross talk within a tumour microenvironment
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- Unveiling the heterogeneity of small cell lung cancer
- Using combination immunotherapy to tackle heterogeneous brain tumours
- Using intravital microscopy for immunotherapy against brain tumours
- Using nanobodies to understand malaria invasion and transmission
- Using structural biology to understand programmed cell death
- Validation and application of serological markers of previous exposure to malaria
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Rare cancers

Rare cancers account for more than 20 per cent of cancers diagnosed in Australia, and 30 per cent of cancer-related deaths – more than any single cancer type. Our researchers are developing new strategies to select the best treatments for people diagnosed with rare cancers.
Rare cancer research at WEHI
Our researchers aim to improve the healthcare available for people with rare cancers. A major focus is to use information contained in the genomes of rare cancers to match them with existing anti-cancer treatments.
Our rare cancer research efforts are aided by our participation in:
- The International Rare Cancer Initiative
- The Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre Molecular Tumour Board
We are also a founding partner in CART-WHEEL (Centre for Analysis of Rare Tumours), an online network developed by BioGrid Australia, which allows people with rare cancers to contribute their personal data to research studies.
What are rare cancers?
Cancer is an uncontrolled growth of cells. A cancer type is considered rare if it affects fewer than 6 people per year per population of 100,000 people.
Rare cancers can arise in many different parts of the body, from different types of cells. Some may originate in a part of the body, such as the breast, where other more common cancer types arise, but from a different cell type to the more common cancer.
Rare Cancers Australia provides information about distinct types of rare cancers.
Burden of rare cancers
Although few people may have a particular type of rare cancer, altogether there are many types of rare cancer. When considered together, rare cancers are a significant health burden in Australia and globally.
Twenty per cent of cancers diagnosed in Australia are classified as a rare cancer, but rare cancers cause thirty per cent of cancer deaths annually. People with rare cancers are more likely to die from their disease than people with more common cancers.
The outlook for people with rare cancers is not as good as that for people with more common cancers because:
Rare cancers are often diagnosed at late, more advanced and harder to treat stages, because health professionals may not recognise the symptoms of a rare cancer. Treatments for many rare cancers have not advanced at the same pace as treatments for more common cancers in recent years.
Improving treatments for rare cancers
Different types of rare cancers respond to different treatments, but effective treatment strategies have not been developed for many rare cancers. This is because:
- Research that could improve the outlook for individual rare cancer types attracts less interest and funding than research into more common cancer types.
- Researchers have limited access to clinical samples of a particular rare cancer type, restricting their ability to discover how the cancer develops and responds to treatment.
- Clinical trials of new treatments for rare cancers are often difficult to conduct as most current strategies to test treatments rely on access to large groups of patients who all have a similar condition.
- The systems for approving a medication for treating a particular cancer are often not flexible enough to enable approval of new treatments for a small group of patients. Our clinical translation page explains more about how medications are moved from clinical trials to approvals.
Our involvement in international rare cancer collaborations gives our researchers access to samples of rare cancers from around the world. This boosts the strength of our research into these cancers.
An important aspect of our research is to use information from the genome of rare cancer samples to recommend a treatment using existing anti-cancer medications. This strategy incorporates knowledge gained in treating more common cancers that may show similar genetic changes to a rare cancer sample.
Once a treatment for a person with a rare cancer is devised, our researchers monitor the success of the treatment, to guide future recommendations.
Further information and support for people with rare cancers and their families are available from:
Researchers:
Super Content:
A $3 million gift from the Stafford Fox Medical Research Foundation will ensure that Australians with rare cancers benefit from new approaches to diagnosis and treatment.
What can we do to ensure people with rare cancers are not left behind? Our panel of experts discussed this question at a public forum in 2014.
Genetic sequencing shows promise for matching people with rare cancers to the right treatments, according to a new clinical trial.
Researchers have uncovered how massive DNA molecules that appear in some rare cancers form, explaining how the tumours 'steal' and amplify genes to ensure their own survival.
How can patients suffering from rare cancers benefit from advances in treatments for other cancers?