WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE RECEIVING THIS AWARD?
Prior to receiving this ISSF funding in 2017, I had a significant number of ongoing academic and professional roles, including, Head of Pathology (SoM, 2015-2018), establishement and Chair of the SSRA Research program in SoM since 2006, establishement and Chair of the Patient Voice in Cancer Research (PVCR, 2016-present), and the establishment and Directorship of the UCD Centre in Translational Oncology (UCTO, 2017-present). While all of these roles were rewarding, and had significant academic and societal impact, the ability to secure funding within this workload was a challenge.
YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT IN LAY TERMS
One in two humans will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer that spreads quickly and is very difficult to treat. There is currently no specific, targeted treatment available. Our research aims to develop a blood test to identify specific markers that could indicate where cancer is likely to spread before it is visible on routine scans. Specifically, we focus on tiny particles called Extracellular Vesicles (EVs), which are 1 million times smaller than a pinhead. EVs are released by tumour cells into the blood, and traffic unique messages telling cancer to move and grow. We believe that understanding these messages will allow us to predict (i) where in the body the cancer will spread and (ii) allow us to predict response to treatment, allowing us to better treat these aggressive cancers in the future.
HOW HAS ISSF HELPED YOUR RESEARCH CAREER?
This ISSF funding came at a crucial time in my professional and academic career providing a lifeline of funding. This allowed me to continue my fundamental research focus, to investigate the mechanisms underlying Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) resistance to conventional therapy and its ability to metastasise to various parts of the body. The funding supported a two year research assistant (Ms Sinead Lindsay), whose incredible commitment to the project, has underpinned the success of our current research program. This is demonstrable in recent comparative oncology publications into TNBC in humans and Feline patients (PMID: 32950643 (2020) PMID: 35006637(2022)).
TANGIBLE OUTPUTS AS A RESULT OF RECEIVING THE AWARD
- Total funding leveraged €205,900
- 1 Data paper and 2 review articles
- Presentations at AACR (n=1) and EACR ESMO (n=1) Conferences
Specific funding leveraged (€205,900):
- UCD ADVANCE CORE PhD funding February 2019 (€115,900) as PI for a “One Health” 4-year PhD project entitled: “A Comparative Oncology approach to monitoring TNBC treatment response and disease progression
- The Irish Cancer Society (ICS) (€30,000) (May 1st 2019) to the PVCR to support the development of a National Cancer Patient forum across the island of Ireland
- The Mater Hospital Foundation (September 2018) (¤60,000) supporting PhD stipend, laboratory expenses and PVCR activities
Publications
Publications emanating from this ISSF funding with the following acknowledged in these publications: “Funding is acknowledged from the UCD-Wellcome Institutional Strategic Support Fund, which was financed jointly by University College Dublin nd the SFI-HRB-Wellcome Biomedical Research Partnership (ref 204844/Z/16/Z)”
Data Papers (n=1):
Kavanagh EL, Halasz M, Dowling P, Withers J, Lindsay S, Higgins MJ, Irwin JA, Rudd PM, Saldova R, McCann A. N-Linked glycosylation profiles of therapeutic induced senescent (TIS) triple negative breast cancer cells (TNBC) and their extracellular vesicle (EV) progeny. Mol Omics. 2021 Feb 1;17(1):72-85. doi: 10.1039/d0mo00017e. Epub 2020 Dec 16. PMID: 33325943
Peer reviewed Review Articles (n=2):
- Goh CY, Wyse C, Ho M, O'Beirne E, Howard J, Lindsay S, Kelly P, Higgins M, McCann A. Exosomes in triple negative breast cancer: Garbage disposals or Trojan horses? Cancer Lett. 2020 Mar 31;473:90-97. doi: 10.1016/j.canlet.2019.12.046. Epub 2020 Jan 2. PMID: 31904485
- Guang MHZ, Kavanagh EL, Dunne LP, Dowling P, Zhang L, Lindsay S, Bazou D, Goh CY, Hanley C, Bianchi G, Anderson KC, O'Gorman P, McCann A. Targeting Proteotoxic Stress in Cancer: A Review of the Role that Protein Quality Control Pathways Play in Oncogenesis. Cancers (Basel). 2019 Jan 9;11(1):66. doi: 10.3390/cancers11010066. PMID: 30634515; PMCID: PMC6356294
Conferences
Conference presentations by Ms Sinead Lindsey/funded by ISSF in the McCann group:
- Winner of the UCD Conway Institute Festival of Research 2017 poster prize with project entitled “Longitudinal nanoparticle tracking analysis of FTIR and extracellular vesicle (EV) profiling of plasma from women with metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer”
- Winner of the UCD Conway Institute Festival of Research 2018 poster prize with project entitled “Discrimination and profiling of extracellular vesicles from triple negative breast cancer cells using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy”
- AACR poster (2019) "Longitudinal Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis and FTIR extracellular vesicle profiling of plasma from women with metastatic Triple Negative Breast Cancer"
- EACR ESMO Liquid Biopsies conference poster 2019 “Comparative Oncology” Approach to Monitoring Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) Treatment Response and Disease Progression"
WHAT DID THE AWARD MEAN TO YOU PERSONALL?
Wholeheartedly, this funding has been instrumental to allowing me continue my group’s research into investigating the mechanisms of chemoresistance in TNBC and how extracellular vesicles (EVs) play a role. Importantly, this ISSF resource, gave leverage to secure further funding to allow us to not only continue our translational TNBC projects in humans, but also look at the parallel spontaneous presentations of feline mammary cancer in veterinary patients in the “Comparative Oncology” Space. This has resulted in collaborations with our veterinary colleagues in UCD, the University of Edinburgh and four clinical sites within Ireland and recent publications (for example PMID: 32950643 (2020) and PMID: 35006637(2022), highlighting the interest and integral importance of multidisciplinary approaches in cancer research. In summary, the groundwork undertaken in the ISSF funding I received, was integral to the success of our current research program and underpinned my successful promotion to Professor within UCD in 2019.