Staff Profile

I received my BSc (Hons) in Applied Science from Cumbria University where I did a desk top dissertation on DNA methylation and its role in cancer development, differential diagnosis and possible treatment regimes. I then went on to do an MRes in Cancer Studies at Newcastle University and did a six month project at The Northern Institute for Cancer Research (NICR) in Prof Helen Reeves's Liver Group, developing liquid biopsy techniques and using patients' circulating tumour cells to stratify treatment.

I am currently continuing my work for Prof Reeves as her research technician. My research revolves around identifying biomarkers in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and managing the HCC Biobank at the NICR. This job involves supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students, providing HCC research samples to collaborators all over the world while tracking donor clinical data, and continuing with my own research.

As far as presentation of my work, I have presented a poster of my personal research into DNA-pk and its role in limiting a patient's response to TACE at the Geneva EASL conference of 2017. This research also resulted in a Presidential Poster of Distinction  award from the AASLD convention in Washington D.C. 2017.

I am currently named as co-author on multiple publications and in the stages of writing up my own DNA-pk research for my first first-author publication.

Looking to the future, I am lucky to have been awarded a five year contract to continue in my position as Prof Reeves's research technician and am hoping to be involved in enough projects and on enough publications to be considered for a PhD by Publication from Newcastle University.  

The catalytic subunit of DNA-Protein Kinase (DNA-PKcs) promotes DNA damage repair & is both a candidate driver of hepatocarcinogenesis & mechanism of resistance to cytotoxic therapy – its upregulation predicting a shorter time to radiological progression following transarterial chemoembolization (TACE)[1]. Having recently developed a method enabling detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in 65% of patients with HCC [2,3], showing associations with stage & poorer prognosis [3], we have characterized DNA-PK expression in CTC.

This pilot study suggests that DNA-PK CTC predict a lack of response to locoregional therapy, shorter TTP and shorter survival. In patients with DNA-PK positive CTC, medical therapy or clinical trials – possibly combination studies with a DNA-PK inhibitor - should be considered in preference to 1^st line locoregional therapy. CTC studies should be considered in clinical trial design.

1. Cornell et al. (2015) Clin Cancer Res. 21: 925

2. Dent et al (2016) In J Cancer. 138:206

3. Ogle et al. (2016) J Hep 65:305

• Leslie J, Hunter JE, Collins A, Rushton A, Russell LG, Ramon-Gil E, Laszczewska M, McCain M, Zaki MYW, Knox A, Seow Y, Sabater L, Geh D, Perkins ND, Reeves HL, Tiniakos D, Mann DA, Oakley F. c-Rel–dependent Chk2 signaling regulates the DNA damage response limiting hepatocarcinogenesis. Hepatology 2022, (ePub ahead of Print).
• Leslie J, Mackey JBG, Jamieson T, Ramon-Gil E, Drake TM, Fercoq F, Clark W, Gilroy K, Hedley A, Nixon C, Luli S, Laszczewska M, Pinyol R, Esteban-Fabro R, Willoughby CE, Haber PK, Andreu-Oller C, Rahbari M, Fan C, Pfister D, Raman S, Wilson N, Muller M, Collins A, Geh D, Fuller A, Mcdonald D, Hulme G, Filby A, Cortes-Lavaud X, Mohamed N-E, Ford CA, Raffo Iraolagoitia XL, Mcfarlane AJ, Mccain MV, Ridgway RA, Roberts EW, Barry ST, Graham GJ, Heikenwalder M, Reeves HL, Llovet JM, Carlin LM, Bird TG, Sansom OJ, Mann DA. CXCR2 inhibition enables NASH-HCC immunotherapy. Gut 2022, Epub ahead of print.
• Gonzalez-Recio I, Simon J, Goikoetxea-Usandizaga N, Serrano-Macia M, Mercado-Gomez M, Rodriguez-Agudo R, Lachiondo-Ortega S, Gil-Pitarch C, Fernandez-Rodriguez C, Castellana D, Latasa MU, Abecia L, Anguita J, Delgado TC, Iruzubieta P, Crespo J, Hardy S, Petrov PD, Jover R, Avila MA, Martin C, Schaeper U, Tremblay ML, Dear JW, Masson S, McCain MV, Reeves HL, Andrade RJ, Lucena MI, Buccella D, Martinez-Cruz LA, Martinez-Chantar ML. Restoring cellular magnesium balance through Cyclin M4 protects against acetaminophen-induced liver damage. Nature Communications 2022, 13(1), 6816.
• Zaki MYW, Alhasan SF, Shukla R, McCain M, Laszczewska M, Geh D, Patman GL, Televantou D, Whitehead A, Mauricio JP, Barksby B, Gee LM, Paish HL, Leslie J, Younes R, Burt AD, Borthwick LA, Thomas H, Beale GS, Govaere O, Sia D, Anstee QM, Tiniakos D, Oakley F, Reeves HL. Sulfatase-2 from Cancer Associated Fibroblasts: An Environmental Target for Hepatocellular Carcinoma?. Liver Cancer 2022, 11(6), 540-557.
• Eldafashi N, Darlay R, Shukla R, McCain MV, Watson R, Liu YL, McStraw N, Fathy M, Fawzy MA, Zaki MYW, Daly AK, Mauricio JP, Burt AD, Haugk B, Cordell HJ, Bianco C, Dufour J-F, Valenti L, Anstee QM, Reeves HL. A pdcd1 role in the genetic predisposition to nafld-hcc?. Cancers 2021, 13(6), 1412.
• Fernandez-Tussy P, Rodriguez-Agudo R, Fernandez-Ramos D, Barbier-Torres L, Zubiete-Franco I, Davalillo SL, Herraez E, Goikoetxea-Usandizaga N, Lachiondo-Ortega S, Simon J, Lopitz-Otsoa F, Juan VG-D, McCain MV, Perugorria MJ, Mabe J, Navasa N, Rodrigues CMP, Fabregat I, Boix L, Sapena V, Anguita J, Lu SC, Mato JM, Banales JM, Villa E, Reeves HL, Bruix J, Reig M, Marin JJG, Delgado TC, Martinez-Chantar ML. Anti-miR-518d-5p overcomes liver tumor cell death resistance through mitochondrial activity. Cell Death and Disease 2021, 12(6), 555.
• SiejkaZielinska P, Cheng J, Jackson F, Liu Y, Soonawalla Z, Reddy S, Silva M, Puta L, McCain MV, Culver E, Bekkali N, SchusterBockler B, Palamara PF, Mann D, Reeves H, Barnes E, Sivakumar S, Song C. Cell-free DNA TAPS provides multimodal information for early cancer detection. Science Advances 2021, 7(36).
• Sudhindar PD, Wainwright D, Saha S, Howarth R, McCain M, Bury Y, Saha SS, McPherson S, Reeves H, Patel AH, Faulkner GJ, Lunec J, Shukla R. HCV Activates Somatic L1 Retrotransposition—A Potential Hepatocarcinogenesis Pathway. Cancers 2021, 13(20), 5079.
• Zaki MYW, Mahdi AK, Patman GL, Whitehead A, Mauricio JP, McCain MV, Televantou D, Abou-Beih S, Ramon-Gil E, Watson R, Cox C, Leslie J, Wilson C, Govaere O, Lunec J, Mann DA, Nakjang S, Oakley F, Shukla R, Anstee QM, Tiniakos D, Reeves HL. Key features of the environment promoting liver cancer in the absence of cirrhosis. Scientific Reports 2021, 11(1), 16727.
• Shukla R, Reeves HL, McPherson S, McCain M, Sudhindar P, Bury Y, Faulkner G, Lunec G. Hepatitis C virus infection, endogenous retrotransposons activation and cancer risk. Journal of Hepatology 2020, 73, S401–S652.
• Peluis S, Baselli A, Cespiati A, Dongiovanni P, McCain M, Meroni M, Fracanzani A, Romagnoli R, Petta S, Grieco A, Miele L, Soardo G, Bugianesi E, Fargion S, De Francesco R, Romeo S, Reeves H, Valenti L. FRI-333-ATG7 genetic variant and defective autophagy: A novel risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease progression in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. In: Journal of Hepatology. 2019, Elsevier. In Preparation.
• Pelusi S, Baselli G, Pietrelli A, Dongiovanni P, Donati B, McCain MV, Meroni M, Fracanzani AL, Romagnoli R, Petta S, Grieco A, Miele L, Soardo G, Bugianesi E, Fargion S, Aghemo A, D'Ambrosio R, Xing C, Romeo S, De Francesco R, Reeves HL, Valenti LVC. Rare Pathogenic Variants Predispose to Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease. Scientific Reports 2019, 9(1), 3682.
• Bartneck M, Schrammen P, Mockel D, Govaere O, Liepelt A, Krenkel O, Ergen C, McCain M, Eulberg D, Luedde T, Trautwein C, Kiessling F, Lammers T, Tacke F. The CCR2+ Macrophage Subset Promotes Pathogenic Angiogenesis for Tumor Vascularization in Fibrotic Livers. Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology 2019, 7(2), 371-390.
• Albertella M, Rizoska B, McCain M, Kirk C, Öberg F, Bethell R, Reeves H. The biomarker potential of Ki67 and pH2AX immunohistochemistry in guiding use of the liver-targeting nucleotide MIV-818 in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. In: EASL HCC Summit 2018. 2018, Geneva, Switzerland.
• Donati B, Dongiovanni P, Romeo S, Meroni M, McCain M, Miele L, Petta S, Maier S, Rosso C, De Luca L, Vanni E, Grimaudo S, Romagnoli R, Colli F, Ferri F, Mancina R, Iruzubieta P, Craxi A, Fracanzani A, Grieco A, Corradini S, Aghemo A, Colombo M, Soardo G, Bugianesi E, Reeves H, Anstee Q, Fargion S, Valenti L. MBOAT7 rs641738 variant and hepatocellular carcinoma in non-cirrhotic individuals. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 4492.
• Barbier-Torres L, Iruzubieta P, Fernández-Ramos D, Delgado TC, Taibo D, Guitiérrez-de-Juan V, Varela-Rey M, Azkargorta M, Navasa N, Fernández-Tussy P, Zubiete-Franco I, Simon J, Lopitz-Otsoa F, Lachiondo-Ortega S, Crespo J, Masson S, McCain MV, Villa E, Reeves H, Elortza F, Lucena MI, Hernández-Alvarez MI, Zorzano A, Andrade RJ, Lu SC, Mato JM, Anguita J, Rincon M, Martínez-Chantar ML. The mitochondrial negative regulator MCJ is a therapeutic target for acetaminophen-induced liver injury. Nature Communications 2017, 8, 2068.
• Macheka S, Jamieson D, Reeves H, McCain M. The isolation and characterisation of circulating tumour cells from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. In: 6th Christie International Student Cancer Conference. 2016, Manchester: International Institute of Anticancer Research.