Malignant Potential of Barrett’s Oesophagus: Morphomolecular Pathology Insights Using Multiomic Approaches

Richard Murray

Richard Murray was awarded with a PhD fellowship as part of All-Ireland Cancer Research Network funded by Breakthrough Cancer Research. Richard is working in Dr. Stephanie Craig’s lab at Queen’s University Belfast.

Oesophageal cancer is the world’s 11^th most common cancer and the 7^th greatest cause of cancer related fatalities. There are two main subtypes of this disease: oesophageal adenocarcinoma and oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, with the former more predominant in European and Northern American populations. Many people with oesophageal adenocarcinoma are diagnosed when the cancer has already spread, which means that almost two-thirds are not able to receive surgery to remove their cancer. Sadly, this results in only one in five patients being alive 5 years after diagnosis. Oesophageal adenocarcinoma is preceded by an inflammatory condition known as Barrett’s oesophagus. This project will focus on identifying a test to stratify a Barrett’s patient’s risk of developing oesophageal adenocarcinoma.

Using Barrett’s patient samples identified from the Northern Ireland Barrett’s register this study will apply various methods to identify microscopic and molecular traits linked to the progression of Barrett’s to oesophageal adenocarcinoma. These will involve techniques such as artificial intelligence, tools for analysing microscopic images, and methods for reading genetic information. Identification of novel image or genetic markers will provide improved surveillance strategies for Barret’s patients including targeted interventions for high-risk individuals and a reduction of unnecessary procedures for those considered low risk.