ProfessorMichaelSeckl

Summary

Qualifications and Personal History

Michael Seckl trained in medicine at UCL/UCLH gaining a BSc in immunology in 1983 and his MBBS in 1986. He then obtained his MRCP before entering specialist training in Medical Oncology between 1989-1995.

During this period he spent 3 years at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (London Research Institute; LRI) working on signal transduction in model and lung cancer cells and was awarded his PhD in 1995 (University of London). He was then appointed as a Senior Lecturer at Imperial College whilst working as a post-doctoral fellow at the LRI enabling a series of successful grant applications to support his on going work in lung cancer. His clinical appointment also linked him to the national trophoblastic disease service and so a second stream of research was established.

He became a Reader and FRCP in 2000 and Professor in 2002 and currently heads up Molecular Oncology with its associated Lung Cancer Research team. Within Imperial College, he is the Director of Post Graduate Studies for the Dept of Surgery and Cancer and he leads the Imperial Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. In the NHS, he is Director of the Charing Cross/ Imperial College Trophoblastic Disease and Malignant Ovarian Germ Cell Tumour (MOGCT) Centre and supraregional tumour marker assay service. He is an international leader in trophoblastic disease and MOGCT, is a past-president of the International Trophoblastic Disease Society (ISSTD.org), and is president-elect and a founding member of council of the European Organisation for the Treatment of Trophoblastic Disease (EOTTD.com), is a visiting Professor at Peking Union Medical College and serves on several editorial boards and grants committees. He leads the gynae cancer theme of the European Rare Adult Cancer Reference Network (EURACAN). 

He has chaired/organised many national and international meetings related to lung cancer, cell signalling and trophoblastic disease. His work is supported by CR-UK, MRC, EU-FP7, AICR, Dept of Health, industry and several other charities. In recognition of his achievements he was awarded FMedSci in 2017.  

 

Research Interests

• Translational Lung Cancer Biology: growth factors and cell signalling for chemoresistance and metastasis and development of novel therapies
•  Gestational Trophoblastic Disease: genetics, hCG assays and novel therapies
•  Germ Cell Tumours: development of new therapies in both men and women

 

National/International Committees/Editorial Boards

• Association of International Cancer Research:  Grants committee (since 2008)
•  American Association for Cancer Research – Editorial Board of Cancer Research (since 2009)
•  Founding Editor of American Journal of Cancer Research (2009)
•  Cancer Research UK: New Agents Grants Committee (2005-2010)
• Medical Research Council, Clinical Training and Career Development Panel (since 2006)
• Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund:  Chair of grants committee (since 2008)
• Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) Oncology Section (Vice-president and past president and treasurer/secretary)
• International Society for the Study of Trophoblastic Disease (ISSTD): (Past Secretary/treasurer, past Editor, Past President and current Treasurer)
• European Organisation for Treatment of Trophoblastic Disease (Founding board member and President-Elect
• British Association of Cancer Research (BACR):  Executive committee (to Oct. 2009)
• Supraregional Assay Services:  Board member
• Chair of Gynae cancer theme of the European Rare Adult Cancer Reference Network (EURACAN)

 

Selected Publications

Seckl MJ, Malholland P, Bishop AE, Teale JD, Hales CN, Glaser M, Watkins S, Seckl JR (1999) Hypoglycaemic coma due to an insulin secreting small cell carcinoma of the cervix. New Engl J Med. 341; 733-736

Seckl MJ, Fisher RA, Salerno G, Rees H, Paradinas FJ, Foskett M, Newlands ES. (2000) Choriocarcinoma and partial hydatidiform moles. Lancet 356; 36-39

Pardo OE, Arcaro A, Salerno G, Tetley TD, Gout I, Seckl MJ. (2001).  Novel Cross talk between MEK and S6K2 in FGF-2 induced proliferation of SCLC cells. Oncogene 20(52); 7658-7667

Pardo OE, Arcaro A, Salerno G, Raguz S, Downward J, Seckl MJ. (2002).  Fibroblast growth factor-2 induces translational regulation of Bcl-X_L and Bcl-2 via a MEK dependent pathway: correlation with resistance to etoposide induced apoptosis. J Biol Chem 277(14):12040-6

Sebire NJ, Foskett M, Paradinas FJ, Fisher RA, Francis RJ, Short D, Newlands ES, Seckl MJ. (2002) Outcome of twin pregnancies with complete hydatidiform mole and healthy co-twin. Lancet Jun 22; 359(9324): 2165-6

Arcaro A, Khanzada UK, Vanhaesebroeck B, Tetley TD, Waterfield M, Seckl MJ. (2002). Two distinct phosphoinositide 3-kinases mediate polypeptide growth factor-stimulated PKB activation. EMBO J Oct 1;21 (19):5097-5108

Seckl MJ, Gillmore R, Foskett M, Sebire NJ, Rees H, Newlands. ES, (2004) Routine terminations of Pregnancy – Should we screen for Gestational Trophoblastic Neoplasia? Lancet Aug 21;364(9435):705-7

Palmieri C, Fisher RA, Sebire NJ, Lindsay I, Smith JR, McGluggage WG, Savage P, Seckl MJ (2005) Placental site trophoblastic tumour arising from a partial hydatidiform mole: the importance of b-hCG surveillance. Lancet 366; 688

Khanzada U, Pardo OE, Meier C, Downward J, Seckl MJ, Arcaro A. (2006) Potent inhibition of small cell lung cancer cell growth by simvastatin reveals selective functions of Ras isoforms in growth factor signalling. Oncogene  1-11

Pardo OE, Wellbrock C, Khanzada U, Aubert M, Parker PJ, Gout I, Marais R, Downward J, Seckl MJ (2006) FGF-2 protects small cell lung cancer cells from apoptosis through a complex involving BRaf, PKCe and p70^S6K2 EMBO J Jul 12;25(13):3078-88.

Murugaesu N, Schmid P, Dancey G, Agrawal R, Holden L , McNeish I, Savage PM, Newlands Es, Rustin GJS, Seckl MJ (2006) Malignant ovarian germ cell tumours: identification of novel prognostic markers and long-term outcome following multi-modality treatment. J Clin Oncol 24(30):4862-6

Arcaro A, Aubert M, Espinosa del Hierro MH, Khanzada U, Angelidou S, Tetley TD, Bitterman AG Frame MC, Seckl MJ. (2007) Critical role for lipid raft-associated Src kinases in activation of P13K-Akt signalling. Cell Signal  May; 19(5):1081-1092

Pfeffer PE, Sebire N, Lindsay I, McIndoe A, Lim A, Seckl MJ (2007) Fertility-sparing partial hysterectomy for placental-site trophoblastic tumour. Lancet Oncol Aug;8(8):744-6

Mitchell H, Seckl MJ (2007) Discrepancies between commercially available immunoassays in the detection of tumour-derived hCG.  Mol Cell Endocrinol. Jan 2;260-262:310-3.

Sebire N, Seckl MJ (2008) Gestational trophoblastic disease: current management of hydatidiform mole. BMJ. Aug 15;337:a1193.

Patten D, Lindsay I, Fisher R A, Sebire N, Savage PM, Seckl MJ (2008) Gestational choriocarcinoma mimicking a uterine adenocarcinoma J. Clin Oncol. 26:5126-7

Schmid P, Nagai Y, Agarwal R, Hancock BW, Savage PM, Sebire NJ, Lindsay I, Wells M, Fisher RA, Short D, Newlands ES, Wischnewsky MB, Seckl MJ (2009)  Prognostic markers and long-term outcome of placental-site trophoblastic tumours: a retrospective observational study. Lancet 374(9683):6-7

Marinov M, Ziogas A, Pardo OE, Tan LT, Lane HA, Lemoine NR, Zangemeister-Wttke U, Seckl MJ, Arcaro A (2009) AKT/mTOR pathway activation and Bcl-2 family proteins modulate the sensitivity of human small cell lung cancer cells to RAD001 (Everolimus). Clin Cancer Res. Feb 15;15(4):1277-87.

Wang C, Dixon P, Decordova S, Hodges M, Sebire N, Ozalp S, Fallahian M, Sensi A, Ashrafi F, Repiska V, Zhao J, Xiang Y, Savage P, Seckl M, Fisher R (2009)  Identification of 13 novel NLRP7 mutations in 20 families with recurrent hydatidiform mole; missense mutations cluster in the leucine rich region. J Med Genet. 46(8):569-75

Pardo OE, Latigo J, Jeffery RE, Nye E, Poulson R, Spenser-Dene B, Lemoine NR, Stamp GW, Aboagye E, Seckl MJ (2009) The FGFR inhibitor PD0173074 blocks SCLC growth in vitro and in vivo. Cancer Res 69(22):8645-51

Dhillon T, Mauri FA, Bellezza G, Cagini L, Barbareschi M, North BV, Seckl MJ (2010)  Over-expression of the Mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR): a novel biomarker for poor survival in resected early stage Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.      J Thoracic Onc 102(5): 810-4

Goh ETH, Pardo OE; Michael N; Niewiarowski A‎; Totty N‎; Volkova D‎; Tsaneva IR, Seckl MJ, Gout I (2010) Involvement of heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein F in the regulation of cell proliferation via the mammalian target of rapamycin/S6 kinase 2 pathway. J Biol Chem 285(22):17065-76

Seckl MJ, Sebire NJ and Berkowitz R (2010) Gestational trophoblastic disease. Lancet 376(9742):717-29

Turner NC, Seckl MJ (2010)  A therapeutic target for smoking-associated lung cancer. Sci Transl Med. 2010 Dec 15;2(62):62ps56

LaraR, MauriF,  TaylorH, DeruaR,  ShiaA, GrayC, Nicols A,. ShinerRJ, SchofieldE, BatesPA, Waelkens E, DallmanM, LambJ, ZichaD, DownwardJ, Seckl MJ, Pardo OE (2011) An siRNA screen identifies RSK1 as a key modulator of lung cancer metastasis. Oncogene 2011 Aug 11;30(32):3513-21

Ramos do Carmo C, Lyons-Lewis J, Seckl MJ, Costa-Pereira A (2011) A novel requirement for Janus Kinases as mediators of drug resistance induced by fibroblast growth factor-2 in human cancer cells. PLoS One 6(5):e19861

Fisher RA, Lavery SA, Carby A, Abu-Hayyeh S, Swingler R, Sebire NJ, Seckl MJ (2011) What a difference an egg makes. Lancet 378(9807): 1974

Agarwal R, Teoh S, Short D, Harvey R, Savage PM, Seckl MJ (2012) Elevated human chorionic gonadotrophon levels six months after uterine evacuation of molar pregnancy- is chemotherapy necessary? A retrospective cohort study. Lancet 106(6):1089-94.

Liwak U, Thakor N, Jordan LE, Roy R, Lewis SM, Pardo OE, Seckl M, Holcik M (2012) Tumor suppressor PDCD4 represses internal ribosome entry site-mediated translation of antiapoptotic proteins and is regulated by S6 kinase 2. Mol Cell Biol. May;32(10):1818-29

Alifrangis C, Agarwal R, Short D, Fisher RA, Sebire NJ, Harvey R, Savage PM, Seckl MJ (2013). EMA/CO for high-risk gestational trophoblastic neoplasia: good outcomes with induction low-dose etoposide-cisplatin and genetic analysis. J Clin Oncol 31(2):280-6.

Roy R, Sclanders M, Hue L, Skehel M, Mauri F, Jordan LE, Lin G, Holcik M, Seckl MJ^*, and Pardo OE^*  FGF-2/S6K2 signalling regulates hnRNPA1 nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling to enhance translation of BCL-XL and XIAP. *corresponding authors Nucleic Acid Research 2014  Nov 10;42(20):12483-97

Savage P, Cooke R, O'Nions J, Krell J, Kwan A, Camarata M, Dancy G, Short D, Seckl MJ, Swerdlow A. Effects of single-agent and combination chemotherapy for gestational trophoblastic tumors on risks of second malignancy and early menopause. J Clin Oncol. 2015 Feb 10;33(5):472-8

Schlegel CR, Georgiou ML, Misterek MB, Stöcker S, Chater ER, Munro CE, Pardo OE, Seckl MJ, Costa-Pereira AP. DAPK2 regulates oxidative stress in cancer cells by preserving mitochondrial function.   Cell Death Dis. 2015 Mar 5;6:e1671

Openshaw MR, Harvey RA, Sebire NJ, Kaur B, Sarwar N, Seckl MJ, Fisher RA. Circulating Cell Free DNA in the Diagnosis of Trophoblastic Tumors. EBioMedicine. 2015 Dec 29;4:146-52

Pardo OE, Castellano L, Munro CE, Hu Y, Mauri F, Krell J, Lara R, Pinho FG, Choudhury T, Frampton AE, Pellegrino L, Pshezhetskiy D, Wang Y, Waxman J, Seckl MJ*, Stebbing J*. miR-515-5p controls cancer cell migration through MARK4 regulation. * Co-corresponding authors EMBO Rep. 2016 Feb 10. pii: e201540970

Li H, Stokes W, Chater E, Roy R, Bruin E, Hu Y, Liu Z, Smit EF, Heynen GJJ, Downward J, Seckl MJ*, Wang Y, Tang H*, Pardo OE*  (2016) Decreased glutathione biosynthesis contributes to EGFR T790M-driven erlotinib resistance in non-small cell lung cancer *co-corresponding authors  Cell Discovery 2016   Sep 27;2:16031

Seckl MJ, Ottensmeier CH, Cullen M, Schmid P, Ngai Y, Muthukumar D, Thompson J, Harden S, Middleton G, Fife KM, Crosse B, Taylor P, Nash S, Hackshaw A.   Multicenter, Phase III, Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Pravastatin Added to First-Line Standard Chemotherapy in Small-Cell Lung Cancer (LUNGSTAR).      J Clin Oncol. 2017 May 10;35(14):1506-1514

 

 

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