Biography
Dr. Mark Ward graduated from Trinity College Dublin in 2012 with a BA (Mod.) in Biochemistry. Following this, he completed a PhD in 2016 in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics in Trinity College Dublin investigating the role of Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and its endogenous inhibitors in the regulation of matrix metalloproteinases and inflammation in liver cancer.
His current research focuses on the area of "Liquid Biopsy" and the isolation and molecular characterisation of rare circulating tumour cells (CTCs) from breast and ovarian cancer patients. His research interests also include the role platelets and immune cells play in cancer metastasis as well as thrombosis in gynaecological cancers.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9356-7246
Publications and Further Research Outputs
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Bates M, Mohamed BM, Ward MP, Kelly TE, O'Connor R, Malone V, Brooks R, Brooks D, Selemidis S, Martin C, O'Toole S, O'Leary JJ., Circulating tumour cells: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly., Biochim Biophys Acta Rev Cancer, 1878, (2), 2023, p188863
Mohamed BM, Ward MP, Bates M, Spillane CD, Kelly T, Martin C, Gallagher M, Heffernan S, Norris L, Kennedy J, Saadeh FA, Gleeson N, Brooks DA, Brooks RD, Selemidis S, O'Toole S, O'Leary JJ., Ex vivo expansion of circulating tumour cells (CTCs)., Scientific reports, 13, (1), 2023, p3704 - 3704
Ward MP, Ibrahim E, O'Toole S, Gleeson N, Abu Saadeh F, O'Donnell D, Norris LA, Thrombomodulin as a marker for VTE following neoadjuvant chemotherapy, Thrombosis Research, International Congress on Issues in Thrombosis in Cancer , Bergamo, Italy, May 2022, 213, ((6) Supplement 2), Elsevier, 2022, ppS13 - S14
Ward MP, Lochrin SE, Ovarere C, O'Gorman C, Kane LE, Mohamed BM, Bates M, Kelly TE, O'Connor R, Kennedy J, Cadoo K, Kamran W, Beirne J, Abu Saadeh F, Martin CM, Norris LA, O'Toole SA, O'leary JJ, Platelets and immune call cloaking of circulating tumour cells in breast and ovarian cancer, Research Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, London, July 2022, 6, ((supplement 2)), Wiley, 2022, ppPB0931 - PB0931
Martini C, Logan JM, Sorvina A, Gordon C, Beck AR, S-Y Ung B, Caruso MC, Moore C, Hocking A, Johnson IRD, Li KL, Karageorgos L, Hopkins AM, Esterman AJ, Huzzell C, Brooks RD, Lazniewska J, Hickey SM, Bader C, Parkinson-Lawrence E, Weigert R, Sorich MJ, Tewari P, Martin C, O'Toole S, Bates M, Ward M, Mohammed B, Keegan H, Watson W, Prendergast S, Heffernan S, NiMhaolcatha S, O'Connor R, Malone V, Carter M, Ryan K, Brady N, Clarke A, Sokol F, Prabhakaran S, Stahl J, Klebe S, Samaratunga H, Delahunt B, Selemidis S, Moretti KL, Butler LM, O'Leary JJ, Brooks DA., Aberrant protein expression of Appl1, Sortilin and Syndecan-1 during the biological progression of prostate cancer., Pathology, 2022, pS0031-3025(22)00226-4
Mark P Ward, Mark Bates, Bashir Mohamed, Tanya Kelly, Roisin O'Connor, Robert Brooks, Doug Brooks, Stavros Selemidis, Celine Ovaere, Jane Tully, Patrick Maguire, Catherine O'Gorman, Waseem Kamran, James Beirne, Feras Saadeh, Noreen Gleeson, Lucy Norris, Cara Martin, Sharon O'Toole, John O'Leary, Isolation and characterisation of circulating tumour cells from ovarian cancer patients, LABORATORY INVESTIGATION, March 2022, 102, (SUPPL 1), SPRINGER NATURE, 2022
Ward MP, O'Toole SA, Abu Saadeh F, Marchocki Z, Ibrahim EM, Martin F, Gleeon N, O'leary JJ, Norris LA, Mechanisms of cancer associated thrombosis in gynaecological cancer patients- tumour or treatment effect?, Research Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, London, July 2022, 6, (Supplement 2), Wiley, 2022, ppPB0752 - PB0752
Riccardo Di Fiore, Sherif Suleiman, Ana Felix, Sharon A O'Toole, John J O'Leary, Mark P Ward, James Beirne, Maja Sabol, Petar Ozretić, Angel Yordanov, Mariela Vasileva-Slaveva, Stoyan Kostov, Margarita Nikolova, Ian Said-Huntingford, Duncan Ayers, Bridget Ellul, Francesca Pentimalli, Antonio Giordano, Jean Calleja-Agius, An Overview of the Role of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Human Choriocarcinoma, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22, 2021
Sabol M, Calleja-Agius J, Di Fiore R, Suleiman S, Ozcan S, Ward MP, Ozreti" P., (In)Distinctive Role of Long Non-Coding RNAs in Common and Rare Ovarian Cancers., Cancers, 13, (20), 2021
O'Toole SA, Huang Y, Norris L, Power Foley M, Shireen R, McDonald S, Kamran W, Ibrahim N, Ward M, Thompson C, Murphy C, D'Arcy T, Farah N, Heron E, O'Leary JJ, Abu Saadeh F, Gleeson N., HE4 and CA125 as preoperative risk stratifiers for lymph node metastasis in endometrioid carcinoma of the endometrium: A retrospective study in a cohort with histological proof of lymph node status., Gynecologic oncology, 2021
Spillane CD, Cooke NM, Ward MP, Kenny D, Blackshields G, Kelly T, Bates M, Huang Y, Martin C, Skehan S, Canney A, Gallagher M, Smyth P, Brady N, Clarke A, Mohamed B, Norris L, Brooks DA, Brooks RD, Heatlie JK, Selemidis S, Hanniffy S, Dixon E, Sheils O, O'Toole SA, O'Leary JJ., The induction of a mesenchymal phenotype by platelet cloaking of cancer cells is a universal phenomenon., Translational oncology, 14, (12), 2021, p101229
Di Fiore R, Suleiman S, Pentimalli F, O'Toole SA, O'Leary JJ, Ward MP, Conlon NT, Sabol M, Ozreti" P, Erson-Bensan AE, Reed N, Giordano A, Herrington CS, Calleja-Agius J., Could MicroRNAs Be Useful Tools to Improve the Diagnosis and Treatment of Rare Gynecological Cancers? A Brief Overview., International journal of molecular sciences, 22, (8), 2021
Di Fiore R, Suleiman S, Drago-Ferrante R, Felix A, O'Toole SA, O'Leary JJ, Ward MP, Beirne J, Yordanov A, Vasileva-Slaveva M, Subbannayya Y, Pentimalli F, Giordano A, Calleja-Agius J., LncRNA MORT (ZNF667-AS1) in Cancer-Is There a Possible Role in Gynecological Malignancies?, International journal of molecular sciences, 22, (15), 2021
Ward, M.P., Kane, L.E., Norris, L.A et al. , Platelets, immune cells and the coagulation cascade; friend or foe of the circulating tumour cell?, Molecular Cancer, 20, 2021, p59-
Ward, Mark P., Saadeh, Feras Abu, O'Toole, Sharon A., O'Leary, John J., Gleeson, Noreen, Norris, Lucy A., Procoagulant activity in high grade serous ovarian cancer patients following neoadjuvant chemotherapy-The role of the activated protein C pathway, Thrombosis Research, 200, 2021, p91 - 98
Mark P. Ward, Extracellular vesicles in ovarian cancer-A role in venous thromboembolism?, Thrombosis Update, 3, 2021
Useckaite Z, Ward MP, Trappe A, Reilly R, Lennon J, Davage H, Matallanas D, Cassidy H, Dillon ET, Brennan K, Doyle SL, Carter S, Donnelly S, Linnane B, McKone EF, McNally P, Coppinger JA., Increased extracellular vesicles mediate inflammatory signalling in cystic fibrosis., Thorax, 75, (6), 2020, p449-458
O'Toole SA, Spillane C, Huang Y, Fitzgerald MC, Ffrench B, Mohamed B, Ward M, Gallagher M, Kelly T, O'Brien C, Ruttle C, Bogdanska A, Martin C, Mullen D, Connolly E, McGarrigle SA, Kennedy J, O'Leary JJ., Circulating tumour cell enumeration does not correlate with Miller-Payne grade in a cohort of breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy., Breast cancer research and treatment, 181, (3), 2020, p571-580
Norris LA, Ward MP, O'Toole SA, Marchocki Z, Ibrahim N, Khashan AS, Abu Saadeh F, Gleeson N., A risk score for prediction of venous thromboembolism in gynecologic cancer: The Thrombogyn score., Res Pract Thromb Haemost, 4, (5), 2020, p848-859
Shields S, Conroy E, O'Grady T, McGoldrick A, Connor K, Ward MP, Useckaite Z, Dempsey E, Reilly R, Fan Y, Chubb A, Matallanas DG, Kay EW, O'Connor D, McCann A, Gallagher WM, Coppinger JA., BAG3 promotes tumour cell proliferation by regulating EGFR signal transduction pathways in triple negative breast cancer., Oncotarget, 9, (21), 2018, p15673-15690
Ward MP, Abu Saadeh, F, O'Toole S, Marchocki Z, Gleeson N, Norris LA, Optimisation of Thrombin Generation as a Predictive Biomarker for Venous Thromboembolism in Gynaecological Malignancies, Research Practice in Thrombosis and Haemostasis, International Society for Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Dublin, July 2018, 2018
LA Norris, F Abu Saadeh, M Ward, SA O'Toole, Z Marchocki, N. Ibrahim, N Gleeson, Development and validation of a risk model for prediction of venous thromboembolism in gynaecological cancer patients, Thrombosis Research, International Congress on Thrombosis and Haemostasis Issues in Cancer, Bergamo, April 2018, 164, (Supplement 1), Elsevier, 2018, ppS183 - S184
Ward MP, Spiers JP., Protein phosphatase 2A regulation of markers of extracellular matrix remodelling in hepatocellular carcinoma cells: functional consequences for tumour invasion., British journal of pharmacology, 174, (10), 2017, p1116-1130
Non-Peer-Reviewed Publications
Mark P. Ward, Bashir M. Mohamed, Laura Kane, Mark Bates, Janina Berghoff, Cathy L. Spillane, Tanya Kelly, John Kennedy, Feras A. Saadeh, Karsten Hokamp, Noreen Gleeson, Orla Sheils, Cara Martin, Michael Gallagher, Sean Hannify, Eric P. Dixon, Sharon A. O'Toole and John J. O'Leary, Influence of platelets and neutrophils on circulating tumour cells, AACR Annual Meeting , Philadelphia, PA, 2020; April 27-28, 80, (16), American Association for Cancer Research, 2020
Research Expertise
Description
Liquid Biopsy (CTCs, ctDNA, EVs) in cancer, cancer associated thrombosis and platelet/immune cell mediated cancer metastasis.Recognition
Memberships
European Association for Cancer Research
The Irish Society for Gynaecological Oncology (ISGO)