Prof Jack Cuzick

Jack Cuzick leads the AsCaP Collaboration.  He is Director of the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at Queen Mary University and also head of Centre for Cancer Prevention. Professor Cuzick's current interests are in cancer epidemiology and clinical trials, with special interest in prevention and screening. He is a fellow of the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. 

 

Dr Belinda Nedjai

Belinda Nedjai is the Scientific Coordinator of the AsCaP Collaboration.  As senior research fellow, she co-leads the Molecular Epidemiology Lab (MEL) at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health at Queen Mary University of London.  She holds a PhD in funtional genomics in inflammatory disorders.  She has expertise biomarkers identification and validation using deep sequencing and high throughput techniques (WES, RNA seq, miRNA and methylome).  The Nedjai team aim to eludicate mechanisms by which aspirin prevents cancer focussing on 1) identify sub-populations who would benefit most from aspirin prophylaxis. 2) Understand who is at risk of aspirin's adverse effects.  Her team will provide support for biomarker development and validation by leveraging on the centre for cancer prevention bioinformatics and statistical expertise.  

 

Prof Andrew T. Chan

Andrew Chan is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Chief of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit, and a Gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).  His research interests include aspirin in the prevention of colorectal cancer and other cancers;the gut microbiome in colorectal cancer and other digestive diseases; diet and lifestyle in colorectal cancer and other chronic diseases. The Chan team at Harvard aim to understand the role of inflammation and prostaglandins in promoting risk of neoplasia and in defining the role of aspirin in chemoprevention. They bring access to two large cohort studies with detailed and updated histories of aspirin use over a life course with follow-up tumour samples. 

 

Prof Ruth Langley

Ruth Langley is an oncologist and the Chief Investigator of the Add-Aspirin trial based at the MRC Clinical Trials Unit at University College London. The trial is looking at whether aspirin could help stop some types of cancer from coming back after treatment. Trials like the Add-Aspirin trial will help researchers work out who is most likely to benefit and how best to use it for cancer medicine. Add-Aspirin encompasses 4 individually, powered Phase III trials investigating the effects of aspirin potentially curative treatment in breast, colorectal, gastro-oesophageal and prostate cancer. The AsCaP collaboration offers the opportunity to build upon this work and maximise the output, by linking with other researchers who have a common aim to understand the anti-cancer effects of aspirin and translate this into patient benefit. 

 

Prof Sir John Burn

John Burn is Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University. His research focuses on the prevention of cancer in those who have high risk of the disease, using a drug found in most people's cabinets-aspirin.  In 2011, Burn and colleagues published the results of a pioneering study, CAPP2, that showed taking a daily dose of aspirin for two years drammatically reduced the risk of several types of cancer in people with a condition called Lynch syndrome.  The team is now comparing how different doses protect against cancer in a new clinical trial called CaPP3 comparing low to high dose aspirin in Lynch carriers, in order to identify the best cancer chemopreventive does with the least side effects.  His team will lead in genetic epidemiology, jointly with Queen Mary University of London in the AsCaP collaboration, and will provide tissue samples from the CaPP trials. 

 

Prof Carlo Patrono

Carlo Patrono is Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology at the Catholic University School of Medicine in Rome and at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  Professor Patrono's research interests are in the study of platelet activation and inhibition in colorectal cancer development and metastic progression.  In the AsCaP collaboration the Patrono team will lead the study of urinary eicosanoids to explore the systemic biosynthesis of a variety of arachidonic acid metabolites and their modulation by aspirin treatment. 

 

Prof Paola Patrignani

Paola Patrignani has been Professor of Pharmacology since 2002 at the "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti, School of Medicine. Professor Patrignani's expertise is in the area of arachidonic acid metabolism and in the clinical pharmacology of of anti-platelet and anti-inflammatory drugs. On the AsCaP Collaboration the Patrignani team will perform the proteome of platelets collected in the general population and cancer patients to identify susceptibility profiles for aspirin chemoprevention of cancer and bleeding side effects. She has developed a novel proteomic assay which is a direct marker of aspirin action (i.e. the assessment of the acetylation of cyclooxygenases) that will be used in the clinical studies of the AsCaP Group to clarify the aspirin mechanism of action as an anticancer agent. 

 

Prof Christopher Hawkey

Christopher Hawkey is Professor of Gastroenterology at the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre. His main research interests focus on the gastrointestinal and cardiovascular harms and benefits of aspirin and non-aspirin non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), management of inflammatory bowel disease and the conduct of large outcomes studies. These interests have come together in the completed Standard Care vs Celecoxib (SCOT) trial and the Helicobacter Eradication Aspirin Trial (HEAT EBioMedicine). 

 

Dr Samuel Smith

Sam Smith is a tenure-track Yorkshire Cancer Research University Academic Fellow.  He is broadly interested in cancer prevention and control.  Specific interests include the psychological factors affecting chemoprevention use, lifestyle behaviour change and cancer screening uptake. Sam's academic background is in behavioural science and health psychology, and he uses a range of quantitative and qualitative methods within his research.  In 2014 he has awarded a Cancer Research UK Fellowship to investigate decision-making in the context of breast cancer chemoprevention.  This work was initiated at the Wolfson Institute of Population Health under the mentorship of Prof. Jack Cuzick, and has continued at the University of Leeds.  

 

Ms Mairead Mackenzie

Mairead Mackenzie was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002.  She had chemotherapy, followed by a mastectomy with immedicate reconstruction, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy. Since her treatment Mairead has developed mild lymphoedema which is now under control and capsular contraction in her reconstruction which has resulted in the need for further surgery. This has prompted Mairead to feel strongly about the issues and potential problems patients face with the long term effects of cancer treatment.  The natural progression from this is an interest in prevention and she is currently involved with Add-Aspirin as well as the AsCaP Collaboration.  

 

Prof Frances Balkwill

Fran Balkwill is Professor of Cancer Biology at Barts Cancer Institute where she leads the Centre for Cancer and Inflammation and the Cytokine and Cancer group within that Centre.  Her research is focused on links between cancer and inflammation, being especially interested in translating knowledge of cancer biology into new biological treatments for cancer and in the role that inflammatory cytokines play in cancer promotion.  The AsCaP collaboration funds a PhD studentship to undertake statistical analyses and coordinate work between different groups. 

 

Prof Tim Bishop

Tim Bishop is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Leeds and Director of the Leeds Institute of Cancer and Pathology.  His research interests are in the genetic epidemiology of melanoma, testis cancer and colorectal cancer. 

 

Prof David Taylor

David Taylor is Emeritus Professor of Pharmaceutical and Public Health Policy at University College London and an Honorary Professor at Queen Mary University of London.  He has special interests in primary care systems and the future health care role of community pharmacists, as well as in the use of medicines for primary prevention purposes.