Professor Yong-Jie Lu
Group Leader
Overview
We aim to identify genetic alterations that influence cancer development, progression and therapeutic responses, in particular for prostate cancer, and further develop them into biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and therapeutic stratification, with a current focus on circulating biomarkers.
Team
Dr Edwina Burke
Technician
Dr Junjie Chai
Postdoctoral Researcher
Sarah McCarley
Technician
Dr Tizong Miao
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research
I have set up a research team devoted to cancer genetic studies and biomarker development, focusing on male urological cancers, in particular prostate cancer. The mission of the research team is to reduce mortality and morbidity of cancer patients by understanding cancer development and progression mechanisms and facilitating precision medicine through the development of efficient cancer detection, prognostic and treatment response prediction/monitoring biomarkers.
There are currently two main research areas of interest:
- Understanding the mechanisms in cancer development, progression and therapeutic response, including cancer genetic/molecular changes and its interaction with tumour microenvironment, particularly the immune response. This work is currently linked to the pan-prostate cancer group, a multidisciplinary international consortium that co-ordinating the harmonised analysis of DNA Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS), RNA and DNA methylation sequencing data generated from many countries in the world, and the PRACTICAL prostate cancer international genetic predisposition study consortium.
- Biomarker discovery and clinical applications for cancer diagnosis, prognosis and prediction/monitoring of cancer progression and therapeutic response, particularly using liquid biopsies. We are currently focusing on prostate cancer circulating biomarkers, in particular circulating tumour cells (CTCs), but also including peripheral blood exosomes, proteins, nucleic acid, immune response factors and other altered circulating cells in association with cancer development).
Key Publications
- The pre-established tumor microenvironment immune response and evasion status determines Bacillus Calmette-Guérin immunotherapy response in bladder cancer. Cancer Immunol Res (2026). In press.
- Characterizing prostate cancer risk through multi-ancestry genome-wide discovery of 187 novel risk variants. Nat Genet (2023)55(12):2065–2074. PMID: 37945903
- The potential of using circulating tumour cells and their gene expression to predict docetaxel response in metastatic prostate cancer. Front Oncol (2023)12:1060864. PMID: 36727071
- The Identification of Plasma Exosomal miR-423-3p as a Potential Predictive Biomarker for Prostate Cancer Castration-Resistance Development by Plasma Exosomal miRNA Sequencing. Front Cell Dev Biol (2021)8:602493. PMID: 33490068
- Circulating tumour cells for early detection of clinically relevant cancer. Nat Rev Clin Oncol (2023). PMID: 37268719
- Non-invasive Detection of Clinically Significant Prostate Cancer Using Circulating Tumor Cells. J Urol (2020) 203(1):73-82. PMID: 31389764
- The novel association of circulating tumor cells and circulating megakaryocytes with prostate cancer prognosis. Clin Cancer Res (2017) 23(17):5112-5122. PMID: 28615267
Major Funding
- 2027–2030 – European Union Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Staff Exchanges grant (101299450), ‘Exploring the mechanism of metastasis and developing new tests to bring circulating tumour cells into clinical practice: CTC4CLINIC’, €796,590
- 2026–2027 – Royal Society/NSFC UK–China Joint Project, ‘Mechanistic investigation of PCSK9-mediated immune evasion in prostate cancer and its therapeutic targeting to enhance clinical outcomes’, £12,000 plus ¥100,000
- 2025–2028 – Prostate Cancer UK Research Innovation Award, ‘Combining circulating biomarkers for accurate prediction of prostate cancer surgical outcome and understanding their interactions in metastasis development’, £588,576
- 2024-2026 – Prostate Cancer UK, ‘Personalised Epigenetic Reprogramming for Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer’ £640,153.00 (QMUL lead with £280,065)
- 2021-2026 – Prostate Cancer UK, ‘Circulating tumour cells as biomarkers for treatment stratification of localised prostate cancer,’ £749,527 (leading Co-PI)
- 2017-2022 – Angle Europe PLC, “The prognostic value of circulating megakaryocytes for cancer patients” £278,000
- 2020-2025 – Orchid, “The Robert Lane Tissue Bank incorporating the Circulating Tumour Cell project” £433.600. (Co-PI)
Other Activities
- Member of European Liquid Biopsy Society steering committee and the co-chair of the Circulating Tumor Cell Working Group.
- Member of pan prostate cancer group (ICGC consortium)
- Member of PRACTICAL prostate cancer predisposition study international consortium.
- Senior Editor: American Journal of Cancer Research
- Editorial board member: Drug resistance update
Biography
Education
- 1992-1995: Ph.D. student in Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences (CAMS) & Peking Union Medical College (PUMC), Beijing. (Pathophysiology)
- 1989-1992: Post-graduate student in Dept. of Biology, Harbin Medical University. (M.D. Medical Genetics.)
- 1984-1989: Undergraduate medical student in Faculty of Medicine, Henan Medical University.
Appointments
- Oct 2017-present: Professor of Molecular Oncology, Barts Cancer Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London
- July 2010-Sept 2017: Reader (Team Leader), Barts Cancer Institute, Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London (QMUL)
- Jun 2003-July 2010: Senior Lecturer (Team Leader), Barts Cancer Institute, Barts and London School of Medicine and Dentistry, QMUL.
- Oct 2001-Jun 2003: Research Associate (deputy Team Leader), Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), Sutton, UK.
- Apr 2000-Oct. 2001: Senior postdoctoral scientist, Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory, Section of Paediatrics (joint with Section of Molecular Carcinogenesis), ICR, Sutton, UK.
- Apr 1997-Apr 2000: Postdoctoral scientist, Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory, Section of Cell Biology & Experimental Pathology, ICR, Sutton, UK.
- Oct 1995-Jan 1997: Visiting Scholar, Molecular Cytogenetics Laboratory, ICR, Sutton, UK.
Related News
Blood test predicts chemotherapy resistance in prostate cancer
Research conducted at Barts Cancer Institute (BCI), Queen Mary University of London, indicates that regular blood tests before and during chemotherapy for prostate cancer can detect whether or not a patient is resistant or developing resistance to treatment with a drug called docetaxel.
Conferences 11 November 2021
New blood test for prostate cancer is highly accurate and avoids invasive biopsies
A new and simple blood test has been found to efficiently and accurately detect the presence of aggressive prostate cancer, in a study led by BCI's Professor Yong-Jie Lu.
General News 17 September 2019