Newcastle University

Research interest in urological cancer and stem cell biology

Hon Consultant in Urology Freeman Hospital (Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)  

• Moad M, Pal D (joint first author), Hepburn AC, Williamson SC, Wilson L, Lako M, Armstrong L, Hayward SW, Franco O, Cates J, Fordham SE, Przyborskid S, Carr-Wilkinson J, Robson CN, Heer R. A novel model of urinary tract differentiation, tissue regeneration and disease: Reprogramming of human prostate and bladder cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. European Urology 2013. In Press.
• Williamson SC, Hartley AE, Heer R. A review of tasquinimod in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Drug Design, Development and Therapy 2013, 7, 167-174.
• Coffey K, Rogerson L, Ryan-Munden C, Alkharaif D, Stockley J, Heer R, Sahadevan K, O'Neill D, Jones D, Darby S, Staller P, Mantilla A, Gaughan L, Robson CN. The lysine demethylase, KDM4B, is a key molecule in androgen receptor signalling and turnover. Nucleic Acids Research 2013, Epub ahead of print.
• Pal D, Rigas AC, Williamson SC, Moad M, Carr-Wilkinson J, Lako L, Robson CN, Heer R. Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) re-programming in the human prostate. In: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2012, Nottingham, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Heer R, Glendinning RJ, Nesbitt CN, Pal D, Rix D, Menezes P, Johnson MI. Secondary haemorrhage following transurethral resection of bladder tumour — is it always related to infection?. British Journal of Medical and Surgical Urology 2012, 5(2), 61-66.
• Pal D, Rigas AC, Williamson SC, Moad M, Robson CN, Heer R. The role of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) in iPS induction of human prostate. In: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2012, Nottingham, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Veeratterapillay R, Simren R, El-Sherif A, Johnson MI, Soomro N, Heer R. Accuracy of the revised 2010 TNM classification in predicting the prognosis of patients treated for renal cell cancer in the north east of England. Journal of Clinical Pathology 2012, 65(4), 367-371.
• Veeratterapillay R, Rakhra S, El-Sherif A, Johnson M, Soomro N, Heer R. Can the Kattan nomogram still accurately predict prognosis in renal cell carcinoma using the revised 2010 tumor-nodes-metastasis reclassification?. International Journal of Urology 2012, 19(8), 773-776.
• Williamson SC, Hepburn AC, Wilson L, Coffey K, Ryan-Munden CA, Pal D, Leung HY, Robson CN, Heer R. Human α₂β₁^HI CD133^+VE Epithelial Prostate Stem Cells Express Low Levels of Active Androgen Receptor. PLoS One 2012, 7(11), e48944.
• Williamson C, Blackwood JK, Greaves L, Wilson L, Pickard RS, Lako M, Robson CN, Turnbull DM, Taylor RW, Heer R. Lineage tracking in situ: Where are the prostate stem cells? What are they doing?. In: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2012, Nottingham, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Rigas AC, Williamson SC, Kennedy A, El-Sherif A, Soomro NA, Brown CDA, Robson CN, Heer R. Renal differentiation from adult spermatogonial stem cells. In: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2012, Nottingham, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Hepburn AC, Veeratterapillay R, Williamson SC, El-Sherif A, Sahay N, Thomas HD, Mantilla A, Pickard RS, Robson CN, Heer R. Side Population in Human Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Enriches for Cancer Stem Cells That Are Maintained by MAPK Signalling. PLoS One 2012, 7(11), e50690.
• Blackwood JK, Williamson SC, Greaves LC, Wilson L, Rigas AC, Sandher R, Pickard RS, Robson CN, Turnbull DM, Taylor RW, Heer R. In situ lineage tracking of human prostatic epithelial stem cell fate reveals a common clonal origin for basal and luminal cells. Journal of Pathology 2011, 225(2), 181-188.
• Williamson SC, Rigas AC, Robson CN, Heer R, Heer R. An update on the prostate cancer stem cell model-CD133+ve stem cell enriched human prostate cells express active androgen receptor. In: British Journal of Surgery: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2011, Dublin, Ireland: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Jackson M, Heer R, El-Sherif A, Perros P, Thorpe A. Carcinoid tumour in an ileocystoplasty: A reminder to consider native bowel disease in the reconstructed urinary tract. British Journal of Medical and Surgical Urology 2011, 4(1), 39-41.
• Pal D, Williamson SC, Robson CN, Rigas AC, Heer R. Characterising potential for pluripotency induction in human prostate tissue. In: British Journal of Surgery: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2011, Dublin, Ireland: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Williamson SC, Mitter R, Rigas AC, Robson CN, Heer R. Comparative meta-analysis of the human prostate stem cell transcriptome demonstrates that progenitor cells are the site of malignant transformation. In: British Journal of Surgery: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2011, Dublin, Ireland: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Rigas AC, Jaiswal N, Williamson SC, Pickard R, Robson CN, Heer R. Side population in human bladder cancer enriches for cancer stem cells that can be targeted by MAPK inhibition. In: British Journal of Surgery: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2011, Dublin, Ireland: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Pal D, Robson CN, Williamson SC, Nayernia K, Soleimanpour-Lichaei HR, Heer R. Stem-cell regulatory protein Piwil2 enriches for known stem-cell and cancer stem-cell markers in prostate cancer cells. In: British Journal of Surgery: Annual Meeting of the Society of Academic and Research Surgery. 2011, Dublin, Ireland: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
• Pridgeon SW, Heer R, Taylor GA, Newell DR, O'Toole K, Robinson M, Xu YZ, Karran P, Boddy AV. Thiothymidine combined with UVA as a potential novel therapy for bladder cancer. British Journal of Cancer 2011, 104(12), 1869-1876.
• Heer R, Clarke N, Rigas AC, Cheek TR, Pickard R, Leung HY. Phenotypic Modulation of Human Urinary Tract Stroma-derived Fibroblasts by Transforming Growth Factor beta 3. Urology 2010, 76(2), 509.e13-509.e20.
• McCracken SRC, Ramsay A, Heer R, Mathers ME, Jenkins BL, Edwards J, Robson CN, Marquez R, Cohen P, Leung HY. Aberrant expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 5 in human prostate cancer. Oncogene 2008, 27(21), 2978-2988.
• Heer R, Robson CN. Editorial comment on: Delta-like 1 (Dlk-1), a novel marker of prostate basal and candidate epithelial stem cells, is downregulated by notch signalling in intermediate/transit amplifying cells of the human prostate. European Urology 2008, 54(6), 1353-1353.
• Clark EL, Coulson AC, Dalgliesh C, Rajan P, Nicol SM, Fleming S, Heer R, Gaughan L, Leung HY, Elliott DJ, Fuller-Pace FV, Robson CN. The RNA helicase p68 is a novel androgen receptor coactivator involved in splicing and is overexpressed in prostate cancer. Cancer Research 2008, 68(19), 7938-7946.
• Heer R, Robson CN, Shenton BK, Leung HY. The role of androgen in determining differentiation and regulation of androgen receptor expression in the human prostatic epithelium transient amplifying population (vol 2, pg 572, 2007). Journal of Cellular Physiology 2008, 215(1), 283-284.
• Clarke N, Heer R, Cheek T, Leung T, Pickard R. Changing the phenotype of urethral stroma by treatment with transforming growth factor beta-3. European Urology Supplements 2007, 6(2), 138-138.
• Heer, R., Robson, C. N., Shenton, B. K., Leung, H. Y. The role of androgen in determining differentiation and regulation of androgen receptor expression in the human prostatic epithelium transient amplifying population. Journal of Cellular Physiology 2007, 212(3), 572-578.
• Heer, R., Collins, A., Robson, C.N., Shenton, B.K., Leung, H.K. KGF suppresses α2β1 integrin function and promotes differentiation of the transient amplifying population in human prostatic epithelium. Journal of Cell Science 2006, 119(7), 1416-1424.
• McKie AB, Olijslagers S, Atkins H, Heer R, Robson CN, Leung HY. Control of hSprouty2 Expression Critically Regulates Cell Growth, Migration and Invasion in Human Prostate Cancer. Manuscript in preparation 2005.
• McKie AB, Douglas DA, Olijslagers S, Graham J, Omar MM, Heer R, Gnanapragasam VJ, Robson CN, Leung HY. Epigenetic inactivation of the human sprouty2 (hSPRY2) homologue in prostate cancer. Oncogene 2005, 24(13), 2166-2174.
• McCracken SRC, Jenkins BL, Heer R, Mathers ME, Robson CN, Leung HY. Expression analysis of the MEK5/ERK5 signalling pathway in human prostate cancer. BJU International 2005, 95(s5), 82-83.
• Heer R, Dorkin TJ, Byrne RL, Griffiths TRL, Rangecroft L. A prospective audit of hypospadias correction in a regional paediatric surgery centre. European Journal of Pediatric Surgery 2004, 14(5), 328-332.
• Heer, R,, Douglas, D. A., Robson, C. N., Leung, H. Y. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) 17 expression is up-regulated human prostate cancer and correlates to clinical prognosis. British Journal of Cancer 2004, 91(Supplement 1), S20-S20.
• Heer, R., Douglas, D. A., Mathers, M. E., Robson, C. N., Leung, H. Y. Fibroblast growth factor 17 is over-expressed in human prostate cancer. Journal of Pathology 2004, 204(5), 578-586.
• Heer R, Shrimankar J, Griffith CDM. Letter to the editor. Breast 2004, 13(3), 262.
• Heer, R., Collins, A. T., Robson, C. N., Leung, H. Y. Role of keratinocyte growth factor (KGF) and androgen in human prostatic epithelial stem cell differentiation. British Journal of Cancer 2004, 91(Supplement 1), S11-S11.
• Heer R, Shrimankar J, Griffith CDM. Untitled - Letter. The Breast 2004, 13(3), 262-262.
• Heer R, Shrimankar J, Griffith CDM. Granulomatous mastitis can mimic breast cancer on clinical, radiological or cytological examination: a cautionary tale. The Breast 2003, 12(4), 283-286.
• Heer R, Walker S, MacSweeney S. The effects of sublingual glyceryl trinitrate on walking distance in patients with intermittent claudication. A randomised, doubled-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. Current Medical Research and Opinion 2001, 17(2), 113-115.
• Heer R, Dobson D, Plusa SM. How to alter surgical practice? The use of guidelines to encourage day-case haemorrhoidectomy. Journal of The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 2000, 45(6), 369-370.
• Walker SR, Heer R, MacSweeney ST. Vascular surgical society of great britain and ireland: prospective randomized double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study to assess the effect of sublingual glyceryl trinitrate in patients with intermittent claudication. British Journal of Surgery 1999, 86(5), 694.