Oxford Prostate Cancer Biology Group
Areas of research
PhenoCycler Multiplex Imaging
In work led by Dr Anette Magnussen, we are employing PhenoCycler multiplex imaging (formerly known as CODEX) to characterise tumour niches in mouse and human prostate cancer. Our panel of antibodies comprise immune cell markers as well as cell structure and cell lineage markers that outline a cellular map of the tumour micro-environment. Lineage markers define the epithelial (luminal and basal) cell sub-types within the tissue. Micro-environmental markers allow us to assess the vascular and innervation status of the tissue as well as the presence or absence of immune cell sub-types. We are collecting imaging data form prostate tumour samples of transgenic mice, which have been provided by our collaborators in Bellinzona, Switzerland (research group Prof Andrea Alimonti) and from tumours grafted from cultured mouse prostate cancer cells (DVL3 model) that were generated in our own lab. Both mouse models are defined by their PTEN/p53 status and treatment with AR—targeted therapies.
In parallel we are applying PhenoCycler imaging on human prostate samples as part of the SPACE Study (see above). We believe that the dual experiments, linking multiplex phenotyping with spatial transcriptomics genotyping will define the tissue niches from which treatment-resistant and poor prognosis disease emerges.