Journal of Clinical and Cellular Immunology
Open Access

Angela F Drew

Biography

Assistant Professor Angela Drew joined the department in 2004 from the University of Melbourne. The Drew laboratory investigates factors related to ovarian cancer metastasis Ovarian cancer is an insidious disease with a disproportionately high mortality rate compared with other tumor types. The Drew group focuses on inflammation and metalloproteases and their effects on tumor metastasis in vivo. The Drew laboratory is focusing specifically on membranebound metalloproteases since their earlier work has shown they are influential on ovarian cancer progression In addition the laboratory has previously shown that inflammation plays an important role in driving the spread of ovarian tumors though the mediators are still not known. Dr Drews group is using transgenic mouse approaches to determine the contribution of an inflammatory protein called interleukin6 IL6 and its receptor IL6Ra to the progression of ovarian cancer. An overall goal of the Drew laboratory is to find specific targets that can abrogate the spread of tumors in vivo. The translational direction of this work is greatly enhanced by strong collaborations with UC clinicians with expertise in gynecologic oncology and pathology. This teamwork approach provides great opportunities for viewing metastasis both broadly and specifically as a target for altering tumor prognosis.

Research Interest

membrane-bound metalloproteases