Belinda Parker lab

The Belinda Parker laboratory explores interactions in the cancer microenvironment that prevent or support tumour invasion and spread (metastasis) to other tissues, including bone. Our overall objective is to uncover new biomarkers (genes/proteins) that predict risk of cancer metastasis and response to therapy and uncover novel precision therapeutic strategies to target the most lethal stages of solid cancer progression at an individual patient level. Our investigations integrate innovative science and pre-clinical research to inform the translation of agents into clinical trial, with a particular focus on immunotherapeutic approaches for metastasis. Key investigative questions:

Can we predict the risk of local and distant cancer relapse in breast and prostate cancer at the time of diagnosis?
Can we prevent tumour cells from spreading by altering the microenvironment through therapeutic means?
Can we induce changes in tumour cells to enhance immunogenicity and impact the immune landscape?

Current projects

Tumour microenvironment (TME) Interactions

From the loss of myoepithelial cell barriers in the transition from ductal carcinoma in situ to invasive carcinoma in breast cancer to the induction of tumour cell loss of immunogenicity markers during breast and prostate metastasis, our laboratory utilises both mouse and human systems in conjunction with cutting-edge techniques (robotic 3D systems, multiplex immunohistochemistry) to explore how interactions and cellular alterations in the TME shape cancer progression. We are currently evaluating how novel biomarkers that we have discovered through high-throughput RNA and protein screens in several stages of solid cancers can be exploited as identifiers and targets of tumour growth, invasion and spread.

Precision Therapy and Translation

We use various immune-activating compounds (HDAC inhibitors, viral mimetics, cytokine inducers) in different systems (in vitro, ex vivo & in vivo inc. PDX/explants) to investigate how we can promote long-term immune responses against tumour cells. Preclinical and retrospective patient studies enable us to assess the synergy of immune-targeted agents with conventional treatment, such as chemotherapy and hormone deprivation. We can also determine how patients may respond to therapy and stratify subsets of patients that may benefit from personalised treatment regimens through rigorous immune profiling.

Bone Metastasis

Several of our investigations have revealed the importance of tumour-intrinsic immune signaling pathways, particularly those drive by the type I interferon (IFN) family cytokines, in bone metastasis—a common site of tumour cell spread in both prostate and breast cancer that is currently incurable. Loss of this pathway in cancer cells can accelerate bone metastases and promotes changes in the osteoimmune TME to permit tumour expansion. Our continued research into how this loss can be both induced and reversed is critical to the promotion of tumour cell visibility in bone to immune effector cells and sustained tumour clearance. This includes CRISPR-Cas9 screens linked to reporter assays (in vivo) to identify novel therapeutic targets that enhance cancer cell visibility to the immune system and combination therapy approaches.

Belinda Parker

The Conversation

Current projects

Related pages