Dr Stephen Thirdborough has a PhD in Biology awarded by the University of Leicester in 1998 for studies on the impairment of human dendritic cell function by soluble factors in malignant melanoma. He joined Professor Stevenson’s group in 1998 to explore the feasibility of using patient-specific TCR rearrangements as targets for immunotherapy, and together with Professor Tim Elliot, studied the mechanisms by which DNA vaccines prime T-cell responses. More recently, Stephen has been applying systems-level analysis of high dimensional cancer omics data for biomarker discovery and the study of host-tumour interactions.

We are using systems approaches to understand how somatic changes in oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes influence interactions between the tumour and host (immune and other types of cells). For instance, we have recently shown that EGFR-driven tumour glycolysis is a major factor contributing to the lack of T-cell infiltration in squamous cell carcinoma, allowing stratification of patients for immunotherapy trials and supporting the need for a distinct set of immunotherapeutic inventions dictated by the metabolic status of the tumour.

Akt signaling is critical for memory CD8+ T cell development and tumor immune surveillance - Rogel, Anne, Willoughby, Jane E., Buchan, Sarah L., Leonard, Henry J., Thirdborough, Stephen M. and Al-Shamkhani, Aymen Published:2017Publication:Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesPage Range:1-53doi:10.1073/pnas.1611299114PMID:28137869 Induction of fibroblast senescence generates a non-fibrogenic myofibroblast phenotype that differentially impacts on cancer prognosis - Mellone, Massimiliano, Hanley, Christopher, Thirdborough, Stephen, Mellows, Toby, Garcia, Edwin, Woo, Jeongmin, Tod, Joanne, Frampton, Steven, Jenei, Veronika, Moutasim, Karwan, Kabir, Tasnuva D., Brennan, Peter A, Venturi, Giulia, Ford, Kirsty, Herranz, Nicolas, Lim, Kue Peng, Clarke, James, Lambert, Daniel W., Prime, Stephen S., Underwood, Timothy J., Vijayanand, Pandurangan, Eliceiri, Kevin W., Woelk, Christopher, King, Emma, Gil, Jesus, Ottensmeier, Christian and Thomas, Gareth Published:2016Publication:AgingPage Range:1-19doi:10.18632/aging.101127PMID:27992856 Human papillomavirus drives tumor development throughout the head and neck: improved prognosis is associated with an immune response largely restricted to the oropharynx - Chakravarthy, Ankur, Henderson, Stephen, Thirdborough, Stephen M., Ottensmeier, Christian H., Su, Xiaoping, Lechner, Matt, Feber, Andrew, Thomas, Gareth J. and Fenton, Tim R. Published:2016Publication:Journal of Clinical OncologyPage Range:1-12doi:10.1200/JCO.2016.68.2955 Upregulated glucose metabolism correlates inversely with CD8+ T cell infiltration and survival in squamous cell carcinoma. - Ottensmeier, Christian H., Perry, Kate L., Harden, Elena L., Stasakova, Jana, Jenei, Veronika, Fleming, Jason, Wood, Oliver, Woo, Jeogmin, Woelk, Christopher H., Thomas, Gareth J. and Thirdborough, Stephen M. Published:2016Publication:Cancer ResearchVolume:76, (14)Page Range:1-40doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-3121PMID:27206847