Harrison and Walton lab publications
Selected highlight publications
1. Chen JL, WALTON KL, Winbanks CE, Murphy KT, Thomson RE, Makanji Y, Qian H, Lynch GS, HARRISON CA* and Gregorevic P* (*Co-senior author) (2014) Elevated expression of activin promotes muscle wasting and cachexia. FASEB JOURNAL 28:1711-1723. We were the first to confirm that activin is a primary mediator of muscle wasting, which is a major health problem in diseases such as cancer cachexia and has been untreatable because of its unknown aetiology.
2. WALTON, KL, Kelly, EK, Chan, KL, HARRISON, CA, and Robertson, DM (2015). ENDOCRINOLOGY, 156:3047. Inhibin Biosynthesis and Activity Are Limited by a Prodomain-Derived Peptide. This study, showing that inhibin biosynthesis is regulated by a short pro-peptide, was featured in an accompanying News & Views article.
3. Chen JL, WALTON KL, Qian H, Colgan TM, Hagg A, Watt MJ, HARRISON CA* and Gregorevic P* (*Co-senior author) (2016) Differential effects of IL6 and activin A in the development of cancer-associated cachexia. CANCER RESEARCH 76:5372-82. We developed an exciting model to deconstruct cachexia, opening a pathway to determining which tumour-derived factors are best targeted to slow/reverse this devastating condition in cancer patients.
4. WALTON, KL, Kelly, EK, Johnson, KE, Robertson, DM, Stanton, PG, and HARRISON, CA (2016). ENDOCRINOLOGY, 157:2799. A Novel, More Efficient Approach to Generate Bioactive Inhibins. This study, detailing the methods to produce high yields of bioactive inhibins that are free of contaminating activins, featured in an accompanying News & Views article.
5. Chen JL#, WALTON KL#, Hagg A, Colgan TD, Johnson K, Qian H, Gregorevic P and HARRISON CA (#Equal contribution) (2017) Specific targeting of TGF-b family ligands demonstrates distinct roles in the regulation of muscle mass in health and disease. PNAS 114(26): E5266-E5275. The first study to demonstrate that endogenous activins regulate muscle mass. Highlighted the therapeutic advantage of targeting myostatin and activins to increase muscle mass in a range of wasting conditions.
6. Walker RG, McCoy JC, Czepnik M, Mills MJ, Hagg A, WALTON KL, Cotton T, Hyvonen M, Lee RT, Gregorevic P, HARRISON CA* and Thompson T* (*Co-senior author) (2018) Molecular characterization of latent GDF8 reveals mechanisms of activation. PNAS Early Edition. GDF8 (myostatin) is a growth factor that inhibits muscle mass. This study characterizes the steps in the activation of GDF8, information that could lead to the development of a new class of inhibitors for muscle wasting diseases.
Additional publications
A full list of Harrison’s publications can be viewed on his Monash Research Profile
A full list of Walton’s publications can be viewed on her Monash Research Profile