Contact: T.C.Jurcevic@qmul.ac.uk

Professional interests

Dr Tatjana Crnogorac-Jurcevic completed her MBBS and MD thesis at the Medical Faculty, University of Zagreb, Croatia, and her PhD at the Imperial College, London, UK. After postdoctoral experience in Cancer Research UK Molecular Oncology Unit at Hammersmith Hospital in London, she joined the Institute of Cancer in November 2004. She is developing a Cancer Biomarker programme with particular interest in pancreatic adenocarcinoma, a tumour type with an aggressive phenotype that is very difficult to diagnose with current methodology.

Her main interest is to understand the earliest molecular changes in the development of pancreatic cancer using large-scale transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of PanINs (pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia), precursor lesions from which pancreatic carcinoma develops; detailed functional analysis of several early markers (S100P, AGR2) is already ongoing. Dr Crnogorac-Jurcevic hopes to find a minimal set of highly specific and sensitive biomarkers that will enable early detection of pancreatic cancer at the stage when curative surgery is still possible. In addition to tissues, a particular focus in the analysis is the study of body fluids (plasma and urine), which will enable non-invasive diagnosis and monitoring of patients with this malignancy.

The second aspect of her studies is based on uncovering molecular signatures of micrometastatic disease, which she postulates are likely to occur early in the development of pancreatic cancer. The selected genes/proteins could represent a target for novel therapeutics that could be used in conjunction with surgical treatment.

Research Team:

Dr Namaa Audi Alamiry	Postdoctoral research fellow
Dr Wasfi Alrawashdeh	Clinical research fellow
Ms Sayka Barry	PhD student
Ms Chipo Chitsenga	Research nurse
Dr Laurent Dumartin	Postdoctoral research fellow
Ms Kate Lines	PhD student
Dr Kalnisha Naidoo	Clinical research fellow
Mr Tomasz Radon	Research technician
Dr Pinar Ulug	Postdoctoral research fellow

 

Funding:

Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund UK Project grant 2009-2011 £150K

Research Advisory Board, Barts and The London Trust PhD studentship 2008-2011 £72K

Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund UK PhD studentship 2007-2010 £75K

BioMed Framework 6 European Integrated Project 2006-2010 £440K (co-principal investigator with Prof N. Lemoine)

Mini Heptagon award 2008-2009 £22K

Research Advisory Board, Barts and The London Trust PhD studentship 2005-2008 £63K

HEFCE Promising Research Fellow 2005-2006 £50K

 

Recent Publications:

• Chelala C, Lemoine NR, Hahn SA, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. A web-based platform for mining pancreatic expression datasets. Pancreatology 2009;in press.
• Weeks ME, Hariharan D, Petronijevic L, Radon TP, Whiteman HJ, Kocher HM, Timms JF, Lemoine NR, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Analysis of the urine proteome in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Proteomics-Clinical Applications 2008;2(7-8):1047-57.
• Harada T, Chelala C, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine NR. Genome-wide analysis of pancreatic cancer using microarray-based techniques. Pancreatology 2008;9(1-2):13-24.
• Chelala C, Hahn SA, Whiteman HJ, Barry S, Hariharan D, Radon TP, Lemoine NR, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Pancreatic Expression database: a generic model for the organization, integration and mining of complex cancer datasets. BMC Genomics 2007;8(1):439.
• Whiteman HJ, Weeks ME, Dowen SE, Barry S, Timms JF, Lemoine NR, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Role of S100P in invasion of pancreatic cancer cells is mediated through cytoskeletal changes and regulation of Cathepsin D. Cancer Research 2007;67(18):8633-42.
• Neesse A, Gangeswaran R, Luettges J, Feakins R, Weeks ME, Lemoine NR, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Sperm-associated antigen 1 is expressed early in pancreatic tumorigenesis and promotes motility of cancer cells. Oncogene 2007;26:1533-45.
• Baril P, Gangeswaran R, Mahon PC, Caulee K, Kocher HM, Harada T, Zhu M, Kalthoff H, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine NR. Periostin promotes invasiveness and resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to hypoxia-induced cell death: role of the beta(4) integrin and the PI3k pathway. Oncogene 2007;26:2082-94.
• Sheikh AA, Vimalachandran D, Thompson CC, Jenkins RE, Nedjadi T, Shekouh A, Campbell F, Dodson A, Prime W, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine NR, Costello E. The expression of S100A8 in pancreatic cancer-associated monocytes is associated with the Smad4 status of pancreatic cancer cells. Proteomics 2007;7(11) :1929-40.
• Thompson CC, Ashcroft FJ, Patel S, Saraga G, Vimalachandran D, Prime W, Campbell F, Dodson A, Jenkins RA, Lemoine NR, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Yin HL, Neoptolemos JP, Costello E. Pancreatic cancer cells overexpress gelsolin family capping proteins, which contribute to their cell motility. Gut 2007;56:95-106
• Pogue-Geile KL, Chen R, Bronner MP, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Moyes KW, Dowen S, Otey CA, Crispin DA, George RD, Whitcomb DC, Brentnall TA. Palladin mutation causes familial pancreatic cancer and suggests a new cancer mechanism. PLoS Med 2006;3:e516.
• Dowen S, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. S100 Proteins in Cancer. Calcium Binding Proteins 2006;1:143-200
• Capurso G, Lattimore S, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Panzuto F, Milione M, Swift SM, Delle Fave G, Lemoine NR. Gene expression profiles of aggressive pancreatic endocrine carcinoma and their liver metastases. Endocrinology Related Cancers 2006;13(2):541-58.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Gangeswaran R, Bhakta V, Capurso G, Lattimore S, Akada M, Sunamura M, Prime W, Campbell F, Brentnall TA, Costello E, Neoptolemos J, Lemoine NR. Proteomic analysis of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Gastroenterology 2005;129:1454-63.
• Capurso G*, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T*, Milione M, Panzuto F, Dowen S, Campanini N, Bordi C, Lemoine NR, Delle Fave G. PNUTL1 (septin 5) expression in normal and neoplastic endocrine pancreas. Neuroendocrinology 2005;81:311-21.
  *Shared first authorship
• Vimalachandran D, Watson R, Thompson C, Greenhalf W, Yan L, Prime W, Campbell F, Dobson A, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine N, Neoptolemos J, Costello E The calcium binding protein S100A6 (calcyclin) is a significant independent prognostic indicator in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Research 2005;65:3218-25.
• Akada M, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lattimore S, Mahon P, Sunamura M, Matsuno S, Lemoine NR. Intrinsic chemoresistance to Gemcitabine is associated with expression of BNIP3 in pancreatic cancer. Clinical Cancer Research 2005;11:3094-101.
• Dowen SE*, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T*, Gangeswaran R, Hansen M, Eloranta JJ, Bhakta V, Brentnall TA, Lüttges J, Kloppel G, Lemoine NR. Expression of S100P and its novel binding partner S100PBPR in early pancreatic cancer. Am J Pathology 2005;166:81-92.
  * Shared first authorship
• Missiaglia E, Donadelli M, Palmieri M, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Scarpa A, Lemoine NR. Growth delay of human pancreatic cancer cells by methylase inhibitor 5-aza-2’-deoxycytidine treatment is associated with activation of the interferon signaling pathway. Oncogene 2005;24:199-211.
• Missiaglia E, Blaveri E, Terris B, Wang Y, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine N. Analysis of gene expression in cancer cell lines identifies candidate markers for pancreatic tumorigenesis and metastasis. Int J Cancer 2004;112:100-12.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Missiaglia E, Blaveri E, Gangeswaran R, Jones M, Terris B, Costello E, Neoptolemos J, Lemoine N. Molecular alterations in pancreatic carcinoma: expression profiling shows that dysregulated expression of S100 genes is highly prevalent. J Pathology 2003;201:63-74.
• Shekouh AR, Thompson CC, Prime W, Campbell F, Hamlett J, Herrington CS, Lemoine NR, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Buechler AW, Friess H, Neoptolemos JP, Pennington SR, Costello E. Application of laser capture microdissection combined with two-dimensional electrophoresis for the discovery of differentially regulated proteins in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Proteomics 2003;3:1988-2001.
• Zhu G, Reynolds L, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Gilett CE, Dublin EA, Marshall JF, Barnes D, D’Arrigo C, Van Trappen PO, Lemoine NR, Hart IR. Combination of microdissection and microarray analysis to identify gene expression changes between differentially located tumor cells in breast. Oncogene 2003;22:3742-8.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Efthimiou E, Nielsen T, Loader J, Terris B, Stamp G, Baron A, Scarpa A, Lemoine NR. Expression profiling of microdissected pancreatic adenocarcinomas. Oncogene 2002;21:4587-94.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Nielsen T, Lemoine N. RT-PCR from Laser Capture Microdissected Samples. Methods Mol Biol 2002;193:197-204.
• Terris B, Blaveri E, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Jones M, Missiaglia E, Ruszniewski P, Sauvanet A, Lemoine NR. Characterisation of gene expression profiles in intraductal papillary-mucinous tumours of the pancreas. Am J Pathology 2002;160:1745-54.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Efthimiou E, Capelli P, Blaveri E, Baron A, Terris B, Jones M, Tyson K, Bassi C, Scarpa A, Lemoine NR. Gene expression profiles of pancreatic cancer and stromal desmoplasia. Oncogene 2001;20:7437-46.
• Efthimiou E, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine NR, Brentnall TA. Inherited predisposition to pancreatic cancer. Gut  2001;48:143-7.
• Efthimiou E, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Lemoine NR. Pancreatic cancer genetics. Pancreatology 2001;1:571-5.

  Book chapters

• Hariharan D, Weeks M, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Application of proteomics in cancer gene profiling. In: Methods in Molecular Medicine. New Jersey: The Humana Press; In press.
• Hariharan D, Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Expression profiling of chronic pancreatitis In: Trends in Pancreatitis Research. New York: Nova Science Publishers; 2008 p. 275-85.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T, Poulsom R, Lemoine N. The molecular pathology of cancer. In: Knowles M & Selby P, editors. Introduction to the Cellular & Molecular Biology of Cancer. 4th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005 p. 356-69.
• Crnogorac-Jurcevic T. Expression profiling in pancreatic cancer using microarray technology. In: Exocrine pancreas cancer. In: Gress TM., Neoptolemos JP., Lemoine NR, Real FX, editors. The European Pancreatic Cancer-Research Cooperative (EPC-RC). Solvay Pharmaceuticals; 2005. p. 202-19.

<< Return to staff list