Giulia Tagliavini
PhD Student
+44 (0)131 242 9174
University of Edinburgh
Room E2-36
The Queen's Medical Research Institute
Edinburgh BioQuarter
47 Little France Crescent
Edinburgh EH16 4TJ
In situ immunophenotyping and identification of macrophage subpopulations critical for bladder cancer growth & metastasis.
Bladder cancer (BC) is the 9th most common malignant disease worldwide and is characterised by frequent recurrence. We know that a permissive immune micro-environment is critical for tumour progression, but, little is known of the immune environment in human bladder cancer and how it may affect progression, recurrence and response to treatment. We hypothesise that macrophages of a specific phenotype create a protective niche for the development of early cancer while a different phenotypic population facilitates invasion and metastasis.
The project will comprehensively map the immune environment with particular emphasis on phenotype and topography of individual tumour associated macrophages (TAM) in clinical biopsies of bladder cancer and investigate how macrophage phenotypes at different locations within the tumour microenvironment characterise the presentation of BC, change with treatment and may predict the clinical outcome and response to treatment.
Funding body
The Melville Trust for the Care and Cure of Cancer
Supervisors
Collaborators
Dr Marie O'Donnell, Consultant Pathologist, Uropathology specialist
Mr Param Mariappan, Consultant Urological Surgeon and Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer
Dr Duncan McLaren, Consultant Clinical Oncologist