Dr Andrew Reynolds

Cross-talk between tumour cells and normal host cells influences tumour progression. This includes the local interaction of tumour cells with blood vessels, fibroblasts, haematopoetic cells and normal epithelium, and also the systemic effects of the tumour on distant organs. The interaction of tumour cells with blood vessels has received much attention, because tumour angiogenesis (the growth of new blood vessels into tumours) facilitates the delivery of oxygen and nutrients that fuel cancer cell proliferation. However, therapeutic inhibition of tumour angiogenesis has shown only limited success in the clinic. Current anti-angiogenic treatment strategies appear to be suboptimal, with intrinsic or acquired resistance to therapy presenting a major barrier to successful therapy.

My group is focused primarily on understanding tumour angiogenesis as a therapeutic target. Our overall aims are to: (1) elucidate the mechanisms that underlie response and resistance to anti-angiogenic agents; (2) to use this information to identify new anti-angiogenic therapeutic strategies and biomarkers of response for existing agents; and (3) determine how anti-angiogenic therapies can be used optimally in the clinic. We have expertise in methods for studying the mechanism of action of angiogenesis inhibitors in vivo within mouse tumour models, ex vivo in systems that allow the study of endothelial cell-pericyte interactions, and in vitro using endothelial cell culture systems. By collaborating closely with clinical colleagues, who are actively treating patients with these agents, we also have access to clinical material in which to validate key findings.

Our ultimate goal is to translate our findings to the clinic in collaboration with clinical colleagues, with a view to improving the survival rates of patients treated with anti-angiogenic therapies.

Dr Andrew Reynolds took an early interest in biology largely due to the profound influence of his scientist father, Gerald James Reynolds (1939-1991). Dr Reynolds studied for his BSc in Molecular Cell Biology at the University of Southampton (1994-1997).

In 1997, he moved to the Imperial Cancer Research Fund laboratories in London (now the Cancer Research UK London Research Institute) to undertake his PhD in the area of growth factor receptor signalling with Professor Philippe Bastiaens. He then worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at St Thomas Hospital (2002-2003) and St Barts Hospital (2003-2007) where he specialised in angiogenesis research in the laboratory of Professor Kairbaan Hodivala-Dilke.

In 2007, he became an independent Research Fellow at the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research under the mentorship of Professor Clare Isacke. In 2011, he was appointed to a faculty Team Leader position in the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre.

The research of Dr Reynolds is focused on understanding how tumours interact with normal host cells, especially blood vessels. New blood vessels can grow into tumours and play an important role in both feeding the tumour and allowing it to grow. Drugs that block tumour blood vessels can slow the growth of tumours, but these drugs rarely cure the disease. Dr Reynolds wants to learn more about the blood vessels in cancers and find better ways to block these blood vessels. In this way, he hopes to develop more effective treatment strategies for cancer.