Summary
Stefan Antonowicz PhD FRCS is a post-doctoral fellow in the George Hanna group, and the current senior oesophagogastric fellow at Hammersmith Hospital.
His doctoral research involved dissecting the molecular mechanisms underpinning exhaled breath biomarkers of oeosphagogastric cancer. Through two papers (Cancer Research 2020, Nat Comms 2021) he showed a tumour-lipid origin for exhaled reactive carbonyls (RCs), and characterised the genomic reasons and functional effects of this metabolic reprogramming. This work has improved the upper GI cancer breath test through cognisant augmented sampling and optimised analytics, and supported the validation of this test in two programme grants led by Prof Hanna.
Current research activities include:
1. Ongoing characterisation of breath test mechanisms in upper gastrointestinal cancers, including the role of amino acids, the microbiome, and the cellular and non-cellular components of the tumour microenviroment
2. Affiliated metabolic phenotypes of targetable genetic events, in particular how ERBB2 amplication is linked to glycerophospholipid reprogramming
3. Tumour metabolic heterogeneity as a source of treatment resistance and refined treatment strategies.
Clinically he completed undergraduate medical education at Leicester, achieving a first class intercalated BSc, and honours in his primary medical degree. He subsequently completed his clinical training in London and Oxford. Current external appointments include developing the national upper gastrointestinal data strategy with AUGIS, and reviewer for Cancer Research, Disease of the Esophagus, Plos One and other cancer journals.
Publications
Journals
Savva K-V, Das B, Antonowicz S, et al., 2022, Progress with metabolomic blood tests for gastrointestinal cancer diagnosis-an assessment of biomarker translation, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, Vol:31, ISSN:1055-9965, Pages:2095-2105
Das B, Leung KHP, Antonowicz S, et al., 2022, A novel prognostic hypoxia gene signature identifies de novo nucleotide synthesis as a metabolic vulnerability in gastric cancer, European Journal of Surgical Oncology
Markar SR, Zaninotto G, Castoro C, et al., 2022, Lasting Symptoms After Esophageal Resection (LASER) European Multicenter Cross-sectional Study, Annals of Surgery, Vol:275, ISSN:0003-4932, Pages:E392-E400
Markar SR, Sounderajah V, Johar A, et al., 2021, Patient-reported outcomes after oesophagectomy in the multicentre LASER study, British Journal of Surgery, Vol:108, ISSN:0007-1323, Pages:1090-1096
Antonowicz S, Bodai Z, Wiggins T, et al., 2021, Endogenous aldehyde accumulation generates genotoxicity and exhaled biomarkers in esophageal adenocarcinoma, Nature Communications, Vol:12, ISSN:2041-1723