Home| Reader in Dermatology |
| Honorary Consultant Dermatologist |
Contact details:
| Tel: | +44 20 7882 2332 |
| Fax: | +44 20 7882 7171 |
| Email: | caharwood@doctors.org.uk |
| Address: |
Centre for Cutaneous Research, |
Biography
Catherine Harwood qualified in medicine from Cambridge University and St Thomas ' Hospital London in 1987. She trained in Dermatology as a registrar at St George's Hospital (1992-5). She then undertook research in the Centre for Cutaneous Research, Royal London Hospital , as an MRC Clinical Training Fellow (1995-8) and obtained a PhD on HPV and the molecular basis of non-melanoma skin cancer. After further SpR training at Barts and the London NHS Trust (1999-2001) she was appointed as a Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Dermatologist to the Cancer Research-UK Skin Tumour Laboratory Clinical Programme. Catherine was promoted to Reader in Dermatology in October 2010.
Research Activity
The main focus of the Cancer Research-UK Skin Tumour Laboratory Clinical Programme is keratinocyte skin cancer (KSC) research. It is a translational research programme aiming (i) to determine the pathogenesis of KSC, including the role of HPV and its interaction with genetic factors, and (ii) to develop skin cancer chemoprevention strategies in high-risk organ transplant recipients. We have identified and longitudinally followed a cohort of >1000 renal transplant recipients documenting risk factors for transplant-associated skin cancers and developing educational and therapeutic strategies for reducing their 100-fold increased skin cancer risk. We have developed significant tissue resources from this cohort as well as from immunocompetent individuals. We have contributed significantly to epidemiological and functional studies of HPV in skin cancer in collaboration with colleague Alan Storey, and as part of a European Collaborative (EPI-HPV-UV-CA). Our current genomics programme includes a post-doc and a PhD student examining the molecular pathogenesis of SCC stratified according to HPV status with genotyping (SNP arrays), gene expression arrays and functional studies. In a collaborative study with Dr Peter Karran, an AICR-funded Clinical Fellow has recently provided evidence for the direct carcinogenicity of azathioprine in the skin in combination with UVA, and this is an area we continue to investigate. Another clinical research fellow is undertaking mechanistic studies of field change pre- and post- topical intervention with the aim of identifying critical early events in skin carcinogenesis amenable to therapeutic targeting. An MRC Clinical Training Fellow is investigating p53-associated apoptosis in KSC in collaboration with Professor Alan Storey. In 2006 we began a research programme on melanoma in collaboration with Dr Daniele Bergamschi, focusing on the role of the p53 pathway in this important skin cancer. .An MRC Clinical training fellow is investigating the role of apoptosis resistance in the aetiology and chemoresistance of malignant melanoma and 2 postdocs have recently joined the group and are working on aspects of the p53 family in melanoma.
Key Publications
• O'Shaughnessy RFL, Akgul B, Storey A, Pfister H, Harwood CA , Byrne C. Cutaneous human papillomaviruses downregulate Akt1 while Akt2 upregulation and activation associates with tumours Cancer Research Sep 1;67(17):8207-8215
• Purdie KJ, Lambert SR, Teh MT, Chaplin T, Molloy G, Raghavan M, Kelsell DP, Leigh IM, Harwood CA, Proby CM, Young BD. Allelic imbalances and microdeletions affecting the PTPRD gene in cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas detected using single nucleotide polymorphism microarray analysis. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2007 Jul;46(7):661-9
• Bouwes Bavinck JN, Euvrard S, Naldi l, Nindl I, Proby M, Neale R, Abeni D, Tessari G, Feltkamp MCW, Claudy A, Stockfleth E, Harwood CA . Keratotic skin lesions and other risk factors are associated with skin cancer in organ-transplant recipients: A case-control study in The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy. J Invest Dermatol 2007 Jul;127(7):1647-56
• Teh MT, Blaydon D, Chaplin T, Foot NJ, Skoulakis S, Raghavan M, Harwood CA , Proby CM , Philpott MP, Young BD, Kelsell DP. Genome wide single nucleotide polymorphism microarray mapping in basal cell carcinomas unveils uniparental disomy as a key somatic event. Cancer Res. 2005 Oct 1;65(19):8597-603.
• O'Donovan P, Perrett CM, Zhang X, Montaner B, Xu YZ, Harwood CA , McGregor JM, Walker SL, Hanaoka F, Karran P. Azathioprine and UVA light generate mutagenic oxidative DNA damage. Science. 2005 Sep 16;309(5742):1871-4.
• Purdie KJ, Surentheran T, Sterling JC, Bell L, McGregor JM, Proby CM, Harwood CA , Breuer J. Human papillomavirus gene expression in cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas from immunosuppressed and immunocompetent individuals. J Invest Dermatol 2005; 125:98-103
• Harwood CA , Leedham-Green M, Leigh IM, Proby CM. Low-dose retinoids in the prevention of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas in organ transplant recipients: a 16-year retrospective study. Arch Dermatol 2005; 141(4): 456-64
• Harwood CA . Surentheran T, Sasieni P, Proby CM, Bordea C, Leigh IM, Wojnarowska F, Breuer J, McGregor JM. Increased risk of skin cancer associated with the presence of EV HPV types in normal skin. Br J Dermatol 2004;150:949-952
• McGregor JM, Harwood CA , Brooks L, Fisher SA, Kelly DA, O'Nions J, Young AR, Surentheran T, Breuer J, Millard T, Lewis CM, Leigh IM, Storey A, Crook T. Relationship between p53 codon 72 polymorphism and susceptibility to sunburn and skin cancer. J Invest Dermatol 2002;119:84-90
• Harwood CA, Swale VJ, Bataille VA, Quinn AG, Ghali L, Patel SV, Dove-Edwin I, Cerio R, McGregor JM. An association between sebaceous carcinoma and microsatellite instability in immunosuppressed organ transplant recipients. J Invest Dermatol ; 2001;116:246-253
• Marin MC, Jost CA, Brooks LA, Irwin MS, O'Nions J, Tidy JA, James N, McGregor JM, Harwood CA, Yulug IG, Vousden KH, Allday MJ, Gusterson B, Ikawa S, Hinds PW, Crook T, Kaelin WG. A common polymorphism acts as an intragenic modifier of mutant p53 behaviour. Nature Genetics 2000;25:47-54
• Jackson S, Harwood C , Thomas M, Banks L, Storey A. Role of Bak in UV-induced apoptosis in skin cancer and abrogation by HPV E6 proteins. Genes and Development 2000; 14:3065-3073
• Storey A, Thomas M, Kalita A, Harwood C , Gardiol D, Mantovani F, Breuer J, Leigh IM, Matlashewski G, Banks L. Role of a p53 polymorphism in the development of human papillomavirus-associated cancer. Nature 1998;393:229-234
