Research

Biobanking Director:

• Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank
• Barts Pancreas Tissue Bank
• Cancer Tissue Bank

Clinical trials:

• STARPAC (Study Chairman)
• PRICKLE (Independent Reviewer)
• RADIOCYST (DMC)
• GAP (DMC)
• ADEPTS

My translational research interests include stromal biology of pancreatic cancer, biomarker discovery, and investigations into liver metastasis and duodenal cancers (UKDCSG). My clinical interests include clinical trials and epidemiology in patients with hepato-biliary-pancreatic disorders, surgical development, innovative surgical techniques, risk-assessment and quality improvement. My clinical practice is at the Barts and the London HPB Centre at the Royal London Hospital of Barts Health NHS Trust. My recent work according to research areas is listed below:

Stromal biology of pancreatic cancer

Inter- and intra-tumoral heterogeneity in cancer-associated fibroblasts of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Neuzillet C, Tijeras-Raballand A, Ragulan C et al. J Pathol (2018) 248(1):51-65. PMID: 30575030

Stromal SPOCK1 supports invasive pancreatic cancer growth. Veenstra VL, Damhofer H, Waasdorp C, Steins A, Kocher HM, Medema JP, van Laarhoven HW, Bijlsma MF. Mol Oncol (2017) 11(8):1050-1064. PMID: 28486750

PAK4 interacts with p85 alpha: implications for pancreatic cancer cell migration. King H, Thillai K, Whale A, Arumugam P, Eldaly H, Kocher HM, Wells CM. Sci Rep (2017) 7:42575. PMID: 28205613

Expression of polymeric immunoglobulin receptor and stromal activity in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Arumugam P, Bhattacharya S, Chin-Aleong J, Capasso M, Kocher HM. Pancreatology (2017) 17(2):295-302. PMID: 28173980

Biomarker discovery

PET-PANC: multicentre prospective diagnostic accuracy and health economic analysis study of the impact of combined modality 18fluorine-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography scanning in the diagnosis and management of pancreatic cancer. Ghaneh P, Hanson R, Titman A et al. Health Technol Assess (2018) 22(2) 1-114. PMID: 29402376

ADAM12 is a circulating marker for stromal activation in pancreatic cancer and predicts response to chemotherapy. Veenstra VL, Damhofer H, Waasdorp C et al. Oncogenesis (2018) 7(2) 87. PMID: 30442938

Predicting complications in hepatic resection for colorectal liver metastasis: the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio. McCluney SJ, Giakoustidis AA, Segler A et al. ANZ J Surg (2018) 88(2) E782-E786. PMID: 30014560

Neutrophil: Lymphocyte ratio as a method of predicting complications following hepatic resection for colorectal liver metastasis. McCluney SJ, Giakoustidis A, Segler A et al. J Surg Oncol (2018) 117(2) 1058-1065. PMID: 29448304

Biobanking

The Pancreatic Expression Database: 2018 update. Marzec J, Dayem Ullah AZ, Pirrò S, Gadaleta E, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine NR, Kocher HM, Chelala C. Nucleic Acids Res (2018) 46(D1):D1107-D1110. PMID: 29059374

Pancreatic cancer tissue banks: where are we heading? Balarajah V, Ambily A, Dayem Ullah AZ, Imrali A, Dowe T, Al-Sarireh B, Abu Hilal M, Davidson BR, Soonawalla Z, Metcalfe M, Chin Aleong JA, Chelala C, Kocher HM. Future Oncol (2016) 12(23):2661-2663. PMID: 27541064

Model systems

Pancreatic Cancer Organotypic Models. Coetzee A, Grose R, Kocher H. Curr Top Microbiol Immunol (2019) 10.1007/82_2019_155. PMID: 30790075

Clinical guidelines

Recommendations from the United European Gastroenterology evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and therapy of chronic pancreatitis. Dominguez-Munoz JE, Drewes AM, Lindkvist B, Ewald N, Czakó L, Rosendahl J, Löhr JM; HaPanEU/UEG Working Group. Pancreatology (2018) 18(8):847-854. PMID: 30344091

Unravelling the pharmacologic opportunities and future directions for targeted therapies in gastro-intestinal cancers part 2: Neuroendocrine tumours, hepatocellular carcinoma, and gastro-intestinal stromal tumours. Neuzillet C, de Mestier L, Rousseau B et al. Pharmacol Ther (2018) 181(2) 49-75. PMID: 28723416

Unravelling the pharmacologic opportunities and future directions for targeted therapies in gastro-intestinal cancers Part 1: GI carcinomas. Neuzillet C, Rousseau B, Kocher H, Bourget P, Tournigand C. Pharmacol Ther (2017) 174:145-172. PMID: 28223233

United European Gastroenterology evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and therapy of chronic pancreatitis (HaPanEU). Löhr JM, Dominguez-Munoz E, Rosendahl J, Besselink M, Mayerle J, Lerch MM, Haas S, Akisik F, Kartalis N, Iglesias-Garcia J, Keller J, Boermeester M, Werner J, Dumonceau JM, Fockens P, Drewes A, Ceyhan G, Lindkvist B, Drenth J, Ewald N, Hardt P, de Madaria E, Witt H, Schneider A, Manfredi R, Brøndum FJ, Rudolf S, Bollen T, Bruno M; HaPanEU/UEG Working Group. United European Gastroenterol J (2017) 5(2):153-199. PMID: 28344786 

Clinical care and patient pathways

Factors affecting length of stay after percutaneous biliary interventions. Roy M, Kyaw Tun J, Banerjee A et al. Br J Radiol (2019) 92(1096):20180814. PMID: 30359118

Solid pseudopapillary tumour of the pancreas: clinicopathological analysis. McCluney S, Wijesuriya N, Sheshappanavar V et al. ANZ J Surg (2018) 88(9):891-895. PMID: 29316119

Complications of biliary-enteric anastomoses. Kadaba RS, Bowers KA, Khorsandi S, Hutchins RR, Abraham AT, Sarker SJ, Bhattacharya S, Kocher HM. Ann R Coll Surg Engl (2017) 99(3):210-215. PMID: 27659373

Role of laparoscopy in hepatobiliary malignancies. Arumugam P, Balarajah V, Watt J, Abraham AT, Bhattacharya S, Kocher HM. Indian J Med Res (2016) 143(4):414-9. PMID: 27377496

Epidemiological studies

Resection rate, hospital procedure volume and survival in pancreatic cancer patients in England: Population-based study, 2005-2009. Coupland VH, Konfortion J, Jack RH, Allum W, Kocher HM, Riaz SP, Lüchtenborg M, Møller H. Eur J Surg Oncol (2016) 42(2):190-6. PMID: 26705143

Outcome after surgical resection for duodenal adenocarcinoma in the UK. Solaini L, Jamieson NB, Metcalfe M, Abu Hilal M, Soonawalla Z, Davidson BR, McKay C, Kocher HM; UK Duodenal Cancer Study Group. Br J Surg (2015) 102(6):676-81. PMID: 25776995

Time and deprivation trends in incidence of primary liver cancer subtypes in England. Konfortion J, Coupland VH, Kocher HM, Allum W, Grocock MJ, Jack RH. J Eval Clin Pract (2014) 20(4):498-504. PMID: 24902884

Other Activities

NHS roles:      

• Research Director, Clinical Board of Surgery, Barts Health NHS Trust (2018-)
• NIHR Research for Patient Benefit, London Research Advisory Group (2018-)
• MDT Lead, Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic MDT, Barts Health NHS Trust (2015-)
• Lead for Pancreatic Cancer, London Cancer, UCLP (2014-)
• HPB Clinical Reference Group, NHS England (2017-)
• Cross-CRG, NIHR Working Group, NHS England (2017-)

External roles:

• Scientific Advisory Committee, Worldwide Cancer Research (2016-)
• Chair, Scientific Advisory Board, Pancreatic Cancer Action UK (2015-)
• Medical Advisory Board, Pancreatic Cancer UK (2016-)
• Research Lead, The London Clinic (2019-)
• Chair, French NCI-InCa PAIR Programme for pancreatic cancer (2017-)
• Site reviewer, Singapore A*STAR Programme on Liver Cancer (2016-)

Major Funding

• 2015-2022- Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank, £2,340,000
• 2012-2022- Barts Charity, International Surgical Oncology fellows, £120,000
• 2015-2018- Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, Development of FGFR signalling pathway targeted therapies for pancreatic cancer, £123,351
• 2015-2020- MRC DPFS, Early phase clinical trial repurposing ATRA as stromal targeting agent in a novel drug combination for pancreatic cancer (STAR-PAC), £708,000
• 2018-2021- Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, ‘The role of T-cells within tertiary lymphoid structures of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma,’ £197,313
• 2018-2021- Cancer Research UK, 'Dissecting the anti-tumour response of tertiary lymphoid structures in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma,' £258,239.00 (co-PI)

Recent Publications

The integrin αvβ6 drives pancreatic cancer through diverse mechanisms and represents an effective target for therapy. Reader CS, Vallath S, Steele CW et al. J Pathol (2019) (2)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31259422

A new pragmatic design for dose escalation in phase 1 clinical trials using an adaptive continual reassessment method. North B, Kocher HM, Sasieni P BMC Cancer (2019) 19(2) 632
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31242873

Switchable CAR-T cells mediate remission in metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Raj D, Yang M-H, Rodgers D et al. Gut (2019) 68(2) 1052-1064
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30121627

Inter- and intra-tumoural heterogeneity in cancer-associated fibroblasts of human pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Neuzillet C, Tijeras-Raballand A, Ragulan C et al. J Pathol (2019) 248(2) 51-65
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30575030

Factors affecting length of stay after percutaneous biliary interventions. Roy M, Kyaw Tun J, Banerjee A et al. Br J Radiol (2019) 92(2) 20180814
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30359118

Pancreatic Cancer Organotypic Models. Coetzee A, Grose R, Kocher H Curr Top Microbiol Immunol (2019) (2)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30790075

Discrepancies in the Tumor Microenvironment of Spontaneous and Orthotopic Murine Models of Pancreatic Cancer Uncover a New Immunostimulatory Phenotype for B Cells. Spear S, Candido JB, McDermott JR et al. Front Immunol (2019) 10(2) 542
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30972056

ADAM12 is a circulating marker for stromal activation in pancreatic cancer and predicts response to chemotherapy. Veenstra VL, Damhofer H, Waasdorp C et al. Oncogenesis (2018) 7(2) 87
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30442938

Predicting complications in hepatic resection for colorectal liver metastasis: the lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio. McCluney SJ, Giakoustidis AA, Segler A et al. ANZ J Surg (2018) 88(2) E782-E786
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30014560

Re: Comparison of lipase and amylase for diagnosing post-operative pancreatic fistulae. Roy M, Ban EJ, Mohandas S et al. ANZ J Surg (2018) 88(2) 1213-1214
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30387284

Team

Postdoctoral Researchers
Dr Dayem Ullah, Dr Stefano Pirro, Dr Opeulowa Banwo, Dr Francesca Delvecchio, Dr Michelle Goulart, Dr Daniel Friedman

PhD Students
Mr Vickna Balarajah, Mr Abhirup Banerjee, Ms Abigail Wilson, Mr Gabriel Aguire, two more vacancies

Biography

I joined the Barts Cancer Institute in February 2005 with the award of National Clinician Scientist Fellowship by the National Institute of Health Research (UK). I completed my MD (Res) at King's College London and general surgical and HPB Surgery training in South-East Thames. I qualified with numerous distinctions, awards and scholarships from University of Mumbai in 1993. I finished my surgical training in Mumbai (KEM Hospital) in 1996, leading to a best thesis award for MS (General Surgery).