Identifying gene receptors for more effective drug treatment
Dr Nicholas Coupe is a clinical consultant at the Churchill hospital (NHS OUH Foundation Trust), specialising in treating patients with melanoma and lung cancer. After having trained as a medical oncologist in Australia he carried out his D.Phil studies at Oxford as a CRUK Oxford Centre Clinical Research Training Fellow from 2015-2018.
Despite recent advances in the way melanoma is treated, many patients still succumb to the disease. An earlier clinical trial (AVAST-M) identified that patients with BRAF mutant melanoma (representing about half of all melanoma patients) are particularly sensitive to bevacizumab, a drug that inhibits VEGF, a growth factor that promotes new blood vessel growth. Nick’s work focused on identifying the mechanism through which the BRAF mutation in melanoma causes bevacizumab sensitivity, predominately by ascertaining links between the BRAF mutation and VEGF expression.The broader goals of his work were to identify additional therapeutic targets that could help treat patients with melanoma with a BRAF mutation.
Using bioinformatic approaches to analyse multiple data sets (including patient samples from the AVAST-M trial) he identified a number of genes that are overexpressed in BRAF mutant tumours and that one of theseplays a significant role in the secretion of VEGF. The gene Nick identified encodes a receptor which is of interest as it is a potential drug target. Blocking this receptor may potentially inhibit new blood vessel growth in BRAF mutant melanomas and could therefore one day evolve into a therapeutic strategy for patients with this disease.
Some of Nick’s collaborators within Oxford are Prof Adrian Harris and Prof Francesca Buffa (Department of Oncology), Dr Ruud van Stiphout (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Nuffield Department of Medicine), and Dr Naveed Akbar (Radcliffe Department of Medicine). Nick has been funded by CRUK.
Find out more about Nick’s work with patients on Imogen Cheese’s blog Melanoma Rollercoaster.
Nick’s CRUK #MyWisdom for Melanoma: “be sunsmart today, reduce your risk of melanoma tomorrow”.
Find out more about our research below

Finding extracellular vesicle biomarkers for oesophageal cancer early detection

Understanding how cancer arises from infected tissue

Following the cancer metabolomic breadcrumb trail

Being a part of cancer drug discoveries

SCALOP team discover new pancreatic cancer biomarker

New melanoma drug a step closer to the clinic

The search for pancreatic cancer biomarkers

Detecting pancreatic cancer through blood tests

Innovative drug delivery techniques show promise in clinical trials

Funding boost for OxPLoreD early detection study

Epigenetic markers for melanoma patient response to ICB therapy

New melanoma cancer drug in development shows promise

QResearch researchers collaborate on two major cancer projects

Oxford to lead new programme of AI research to improve lung cancer screening

What is a clinical trial? - new video series

The University of Oxford announces it has dosed the first patients in a phase I study of NUC-7738

Leveraging AI and image analysis technology to improve prognostication in colorectal cancer




Investigating why some melanoma patients are more responsive to immunotherapy

Interview with Nick Coupe on the Importance of Melanoma Awareness





Identifying Novel Therapeutic Targets and Treatments for Colorectal Cancer


Combining Radiotherapy, Minimally Invasive Surgery and Immunotherapy to Enhance Cure Rates in Prostate Cancer



Focussed ultrasound and nanomedicine offer new hope for improving effects of cancer drugs

Prognostic biomarkers discovered for patients with malignant pleural effusion
