Dr Andy Cross BSc., PhD.

Research Associate Musculoskeletal & Ageing Science

Research

Research Interest 1

My research began with the study of neutrophils and their role in inflammatory dissorders, perticularly Rheumaoid Arthritis. Neutrophils are normally short-lived cells. During inflammation, neutrophils survive longer so as to carry out their normal function of engulfing and safely destroying invading pathogens. I showed that neutrophils could also play a role in the adaptive as well as the innate arm of the immune system through the expression of an active MHCII. This research led me to Mcl-1 and Bfl-1, two proteins involved in neutrophil survival. High Mcl-1 and Bfl-1 expression is implicated in many cancers and I am currently performing research to elucidate their role in colorectal cancers and neuroblastomas. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are showing great promise in clinical trials for the prevention or treatment of cancers. These drugs sensitize the cancer cells to apoptosis and are thought to have an indirect (via COX-2 inhibition)effect upon Mcl-1 levels. NF-kB is also up-regulated in many cancers and inhibitors of NF-kB can induce apoptosis in many neuroblastoma cell lines. Inhibitors of both NF-kB and COX-2 (including NSAIDs currently in use) are being used to investigate the regulation of Bfl-1 and Mcl-1 by NF-kB and COX-2 respectively.