Professor Hemant Kocher

MBBS, MS, MD, FRCS
Professor of Liver and Pancreas Surgery
Group Leader, Research Theme Lead
Email Staff Directory
Research Focus

I am a surgeon-scientist. My clinical research interests include tissue banking, clinical trials, innovative surgical techniques, epidemiology, meta-analysis and patient care pathways. My translational research interests include pancreatic cancer stroma and tumour-stroma cross-talk including cell signalling, adhesion, metastasis, invasion leading to innovative therapies and novel biomarkers.

Key Publications

Anti-stromal treatment together with chemotherapy targets multiple signalling pathways in pancreatic adenocarcinoma. J Pathol (2016) 239(3):286-96. PMID: 27061193

Nuclear translocation of FGFR1 and FGF2 in pancreatic stellate cells facilitates pancreatic cancer cell invasion. EMBO Mol Med (2014) 6(4):467-81.  PMID: 24503018

Activated pancreatic stellate cells sequester CD8(+) T cells to reduce their infiltration of the juxtatumoral compartment of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Gastroenterology (2013). 145(5):1121-32. PMID: 23891972

Retinoic acid-induced pancreatic stellate cell quiescence reduces paracrine Wnt-β-catenin signaling to slow tumor progression. Gastroenterology (2011) 141(4):1486-97. PMID: 21704588

Major Funding
  • 2018-2021- Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund, ‘The role of T-cells within tertiary lymphoid structures of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma,’ £197,313
  • 2015-2022- Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank, £2,340,000
  • 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
Other Activities
  • National Cancer Intelligence Network (Upper GI and Pancreas)
  • Cancer Study group of British Society of Gastroenterology
  • Chairman Scientific Advisory Board, Pancreatic Cancer Action UK (charity)
  • Member, Scientific Advisory Committee, Worldwide Cancer Research
  • Member, Medical Advisory Committee, Pancreatic Cancer UK MDT co-Lead: Barts and the London HPB MDT
Themes/Keywords
Cancer Screening and Early Diagnosis Targeting Tumour Cells Clinical Trials Immunotherapy Tissue Banking Tumour Microenvironment Pancreatic Centre for Tumour Biology
Research

Biobanking Director:

Clinical trials:

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:      

External roles:

 

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

CRABP2 and FABP5 expression levels in diseased and normal pancreas Hughes CS, ChinAleong JA, Kocher HM Annals of Diagnostic Pathology (2020) 47(7)

High-grade mesenchymal pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma drives stromal deactivation through CSF-1 Steins A, van Mackelenbergh MG, van der Zalm AP et al. EMBO Reports (2020) 21(7)

CLONAL DYNAMICS AND CELL-OF-ORIGIN OF NORMAL HEPATOCYTE EXPANSIONS IN HOMEOSTATIC HUMAN LIVERS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH THE BILIARY EPITHELIUM Passman AM, Haughey MJ, Carlotti E et al. GASTROENTEROLOGY (2020) 158(11) S1276-S1276
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000540349504191&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=612ae0d773dcbdba3046f6df545e9f6a

Fibronectin acts as a molecular switch to determine SPARC function in pancreatic cancer Munasinghe A, Malik K, Mohamedi F et al. Cancer Letters (2020) 477(7) 88-96

A Novel Scaffold-Based Hybrid Multicellular Model for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma—Toward a Better Mimicry of the in vivo Tumor Microenvironment Gupta P, Pérez-Mancera PA, Kocher H et al. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology (2020) 8(7)

Urine metallomics signature as an indicator of pancreatic cancer. Schilling K, Larner F, Saad A et al. Metallomics: integrated biometal science (2020) (1)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32211672

Corrigendum to “Recommendations from the United European Gastroenterology evidence-based guidelines for the diagnosis and therapy of chronic pancreatitis” (Pancreatology (2018) 18(8) (847–854), (S1424390318306938), (10.1016/j.pan.2018.09.016)) Dominguez-Munoz JE, Drewes AM, Lindkvist B et al. Pancreatology (2020) 20(7) 148

Targeting FGFR signalling to disrupt cellular cross-talk in pancreatic cancer Coetzee A (2019) (1)

Systematic review of the incidence, presentation and management of gastroduodenal artery pseudoaneurysm after pancreatic resection Brodie B, Kocher HM BJS open (2019) 3(7) 735-742

Accuracy of pre-operative (P)-POSSUM scoring and cardiopulmonary exercise testing in predicting morbidity and mortality after pancreatic and liver surgery: A systematic review Dutton J, De Braal VJF, Hariharan D et al. BRITISH JOURNAL OF SURGERY (2019) 106(11) 25-25
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000495722300061&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=612ae0d773dcbdba3046f6df545e9f6a

For additional publications, please click here
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).

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