Dr. Graham Pidgeon

Dr. Graham Pidgeon graduated from DCU with a degree in Analytical Science and obtained a Ph.D. in Cancer Research from the Dept. Surgery, RCSI/DCU in 2000. Awarded an American Cancer Foundation Fellowship, he worked as research fellow at Wayne State University, Michigan with Prof. Kenneth Honn on the regulation of prostate cancer survival by bioactive lipids. In 2002 he returned to Ireland as a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Dept. Clinical Pharmacology at RCSI. He was awarded a HRB postdoctoral fellowship in 2004, and joined Dr. Ken O'Byrne in the Thoracic Oncology Research Group at the Institute of Molecular Medicine at TCD/St. James as research lecturer. He developed his own research group focused on the regulation of VEGF-mediated survival pathways by COX and LOX in lung cancer and combining inhibitors of these pathways with conventional chemotherapy. He was appointed senior lecturer in Dept. Surgery at TCD/St.James in Jan 2007 and has expanded these research areas into other prevalent solid malignancies, including oesophageal cancer. He has published in a number of high impact journals including Cancer Research and Circulation, and was awarded the IJS doctor award 2005 for Cardiology. His current research is focused on the role of bioactive lipid enzymes including cycloxygenase and lipoxygenase in the growth and metastasis of lung and oesophageal cancer. Dr. Graham Pidgeon's group have a strong interest in the molecular processes regulating the growth and survival of oesophageal and lung cancer. Work in the past months has concentrated on the development of an adipose biobank from patients undergoing oesophageal and colorectal resections, to investigate the role of visceral fat in the progression of these malignancies. Recent scientific literature highlights the importance of central obesity and metabolic syndrome (MetS) as negatively impacting on cancer risk, tumour size, metastatic potential, and both disease free and overall survival. The group are prospectively investigating the incidence of central adiposity, metabolic syndrome and adipocyte secretion amongst newly diagnosed patients with these cancers to determine the link between these parameters and tumour size, metastases, treatment pathways, and survival.

  Angiogenesis   Anticancer therapies   Apoptosis   Apoptosis, molecular control   Biological Markers   Breast cancer   Cancer Biology   Cancer genetics and cell biology including metastasis   Cancer/Carcinogenesis   Cardiology   Cardiovascular and molecular pharmacology   Cardiovascular disease, pharmacology   Cardiovascular Diseases   Cardiovascular regulation and hypertension   Cardiovascular System   Cell Communication   Cell Components   Cell cycle control   Cell Lines   Clinical research, trials   Coronary artery ischaemia   Cytoskelton, cell division   DNA transcription and translation   Drug development and evaluation   Extracellular Matrix   Gene therapy   Gene transcription in human cancer   Genomic structure and function, molecular approaches to gene function   Growth Factors   Immunology   Inflammation and coagulation syndromes   Intra and intercellular signalling   Lipids, steroids, membranes   Lung Cancer   Metabolism, Lipid   Molecular Biology   Molecular Genetics   Nutrition/Dietetics   Oncogenes, apoptosis and tumour development   Oncology   Pathogenesis   Pathology   Pharmacology   Platelet activating agents   Prostaglandins   Prostate cancer   Proteomics   Pulmonary Diseases   Radiotherapy, Biological response modifiers and chemoprevention   Receptors   Regulatory methods of gene expression   Respiratory System   Therapeutic and Clinical oncology   Thrombosis   Thrombosis and haemostasis   Tissue Culture   Transgenic Animals   Tumour immunology and immunotherapy   Vascular Biology   Vascular Biology, Thrombosis

My research interests focus on the regulation of vascular function and angiogenesis by bioactive lipids/prostanoids. Biologically active products derived from cyclooxygenase (COX) and lipoxygenase (LOX) mediated metabolism of arachidonic acid are involved in a range of clinical conditions, including arthritis, cancer and heart disease. One area of my research is in the examination of the role of the different COX isoforms, and their downstream products in pulmonary disease. There are reports that drugs which selectively inhibit COX-2 have detrimental effects on cardiac function, to date our results confirm that selective inhibition of COX-2 in models of hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension aggravates the problem. We are currently examining the mechanisms whereby cyclooxygenase isozymes regulate pulmonary hypertension and lung cancer, with an emphasis on COX-mediated angiogenesis and thrombosis in these diseases. A second area of research involves examining the role of bioactive lipids as survival factors in cancer. We are currently examining the role of 12-lipoxygenase, COX-2 and thromboxane synthase as survival factors in lung cancer and mesothelioma. The goal of this research is to identify the mechanisms whereby these enzymes facilitate tumour survival under conditions found within the tumour microenvironment, including hypoxia and serum deprivation. My third area of research interest is in the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor receptors and their expression in lung cancer and mesothelioma. I am particularly interested in the Neuropilin family of receptors, their role in cell survival and regulation by bioactive lipids. We are currently examining the expression profile of VEGF receptors in cell lines and retrospective human lung cancers, to correlate their expression with tumour grade and stage.