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Full NameMr John Burke

Colorectal Surgery

Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland

Webpage:rcsi.ie

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Research Fields

genetics, genomics and molecular biology
cancer/oncology
epidemiology/population health research
clinical trials

Postgrad Medical Specialties

Surgery

Medical Subspecialties

Gastroenterology
Oncology

My Work

There are over 600 cases of rectal cancer diagnosed annually in Ireland. The treatment and survival of this condition has improved significantly through centralization, multidisciplinary team care and neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The mucinous subtype of rectal cancer comprises approximately 14% of rectal cancer cases, and responds poorly to neoadjuvant CRT, with a 68% reduced likelihood of achieving tumour down-staging in response to neoadjuvant CRT with an associated adverse overall survival. Thus, this cohort of patients represents a group in urgent need of investigation.
Our research group is examining how the mutational burden in mucinous adenocarcinoma differs to non-mucinous adenocarcinoma and the mechanism via which this plays a role in the resistance to chemoradiotherapy we observe. Using a wide variety of techniques, our current program of research is determining the genetic architecture which leads to the development of mucinous rectal adenocarcinoma, exploring the intracellular signalling mechanisms that lead these tumours to be resistant and examining alternative chemotherapeutic regimens which may be more successful in achieving a response to treatment.