Cancer Drug Development Research Group

Group Leader: Professor Tim Meyer

Research

My main research interests lie in cancer drug development, with a particular focus on Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) and Neuroendocrine Tumours (NET). I run a specialist clinic in these tumour types at the Royal Free Hospital and an ‘Early-Phase Trial’ Clinic at the NIHR Wellcome UCH Clinical Research Facility (CRF). In addition to leading an extensive clinical trial portfolio, I have integrated biomarker research into my clinical practice and this has increasingly focused on the role of Circulating Tumour Cell (CTCs) as predictive and prognostic markers of disease. My current research projects include defining the role of CTCs as pharmacodynamic markers and surrogates for molecular profiling of tumours in the context of drug development.

I am the Cancer Director of the NIHR Wellcome UCH Clinical Research Facility and the Joint Director of the UCL ECMC. Nationally, I Chair the TRANSNET Committee. In addition, I am a member of the UKNETS Steering Committee and I sit on both the Hepatobiliary and NET NIHR Clinical Studies Sub-Groups.

Selected Publications

1. Meyer T, Wendi Q, Caplin ME, Armstrong G, Lao-Sirieix S-H, Hardy R, Valle JW, Talbot DC, Cunningham D, Reed N, Shaw A, Navalkissoor S, Luong T-V, Corrie PG. Capecitabine and streptozocin ± cisplatin in advanced gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumours. European Journal of Cancer 2014; 50, 902– 911

2. Francis JM, Kiezun A, Ramos AH, Serra S, Pedamallu CS, Qian ZR, Michaela S, Banck MS, Kanwar R, Kulkarni AA, Karpathakis A, Manzo V, Contractor T, Philips J, Nickerson E, Pho N , Hooshmand SM, Lauren K. Brais LK, Lawrence M, Trevor Pugh T, McKenna A, Sivachenko A, Cibulskis K, Carter SL, Ojesina AI, Freeman S, Jones RT, Voet D, Saksena G, Auclair D, Onofrio R, Shefler E, Sougnez C, Grimsby J, Green L, Lennon L, Meyer T, Caplin C, Daniel C. Chung DC, Beutler AS, Ogino S, Thirlwell C, Shivdasani R, Sylvia L. Asa SL, Chris R, Harris CR, Getz G, Kulke M, Meyerson M. Somatic mutation of CDKN1B in small intestine neuroendocrine tumors, Nat Genet. 2013 Dec;45(12):1483-6

3. Kogelberg H, Miranda E, Burnet J, Ellison D, Tolner B, Foster J, Picón C, Thomas GJ, Meyer T, Marshall JF, Mather SJ , Chester K. Generation and characterization of a diabody targeting the avß6 integrin. PLoS One. 2013 Sep 4;8(9):e73260

4. Hemmerle T, Probst P, Giovannoni L, Green AJ, Meyer T, Neri D. The antibody-based targeted delivery of TNF in combination with doxorubicin cures sarcomas in mice and confers long lasting protective immunity. Br J Cancer. 2013 Sep 3;109(5):1206-13

5. Kadalayil L, Benini R, Pallan L, O’Beirne J, Marelli L, Yu D, Hackshaw A, Fox R, Johnson P, Burroughs AK, Palmer DH, Meyer T. A simple prognostic scoring system for patients receiving transarterial-embolisation for hepatocellular cancer Annals of Oncology 2013 Oct;24(10):2565-70

6. Khan MS, Luong TV, Watkins J, Toumpanakis C, Caplin ME, Meyer T A comparison of Ki-67 and mitotic count as prognostic markers for metastatic pancreatic and midgut neuroendocrine neoplasms. Br J Cancer. 2013 Mar 14;108(9):1838-45

7. Meyer T, Roughton M, Yu D, Davies N, Williams E, Pereira SP, Hochhauser D, O'Beirne J, Patch D, Burroughs A K. A randomized phase II/III trial of three weekly cisplatin based transarterial chemoembolization versus embolization alone for hepatocellular cancer. Br J Cancer 2013 108(6):1252-9

8. Khan MS, Kirkwood A, Tsigani T, Garcia-Hernandez J, Hartley JA, Caplin ME, Meyer T. Circulating Tumor Cells As Prognostic Markers in Neuroendocrine Tumors. J Clin Oncol 2013; 31:365-372

9. Gillmore R, Stuart S, Kirkwood A, Hameeduddin A, Woodward N, Burroughs AK, Meyer T, EASL and mRECIST responses are independent prognostic factors for survival in hepatocellular cancer patients treated with transarterial embolisation. J Hepatol 2011; 55 (6):1309-1316

10. Khan MS, Tsigani T, Rashid M, Rabouhans JS, Yu D, Luong TV, Caplin ME, Meyer T, Circulating Tumour Cells and EpCAM Expression in Neuroendocrine Tumours. Clin Canc Res 2011; 17(2):337-45

11. Turner NC, Strauss SJ, Sarker D, Gillmore R, Kirkwood A, Hackshaw A, Papadopoulou A, Bell J, Kayani I, Toumpanakis C, Grillo F, Mayer A, Hochhauser D, Begent R. H, Caplin M.E, Meyer T. Chemotherapy with 5-Fluorouracil, Cisplatin and Streptozocin (FCiSt) for neuroendocrine tumours. Br J Cancer. 2010, 102(7) p1106-12