Dr Neil Dufton
Lecturer in Inflammatory Sciences
The William Harvey Research Institute
Queen Mary University of London
Queen Mary University of London
Research
Endothelial to mesenchymal transition, Vascular biology, Endothelial heterogeneity, Liver fibrosis, NASH
Interests
My lab is interested in determining the role of vascular heterogeneity in health and disease. During chronic fibrotic disease, such as heart failure and liver cirrhosis, vascular endothelial cells undergo drastic changes, disrupting tissue-specific vascular patterning and leading to vascular and tissue dysfunction. Our research has revealed that a process termed endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is a central mediator of the endothelial plasticity associated with fibrosis. We have successfully developed novel reporters that enable us to track and assess EndMT occurring in real-time. Using Liver-On-A-Chip platforms we have shown dynamic behaviours of EndMT cells for the first time in models of liver fibrosis and NASH-like microenvironments (Whiteford et al., 2022). We aim to apply our EndMT reporters to develop tissue and disease-specific Organ-On-A-Chip drug screening platforms that can identify new therapeutic approaches to reverse vascular dysfunction and fibrosis.Publications
2023
Cytokine-Mediated Degradation of the Transcription Factor ERG Impacts the Pulmonary Vascular Response to Systemic Inflammatory ChallengeSchafer CM, Martin-Almedina S, Kurylowicz K, Dufton N, Osuna-Almagro L, Wu M-L, Johnson CF, Shah AV et al.
Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, Wolters Kluwer vol. 43 (8), 1412-1428.
15-06-2023
OS-043 Atypical Chemokine receptors regulate the induction of ‘disease-associated’ LSEC by modulating Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal transition (EndMT) during liver fibrosisGkantsinikoudi C, Rot A, Alazawi W
Journal of Hepatology, Elsevier vol. 78
01-06-2023
2022
Placental Inflammation Leads to Abnormal Embryonic Heart DevelopmentWard EJ, Bert S, Fanti S, Malone KM, Maughan RT, Gkantsinikoudi C, Prin F, Volpato LK et al.
Circulation, Wolters Kluwer vol. 147 (12), 956-972.
09-12-2022
Cooperative ETS transcription factors enforce adult endothelial cell fate and cardiovascular homeostasisGomez-Salinero JM, Itkin T, Houghton S, Badwe C, Lin Y, Kalna V, Dufton N, Peghaire CR et al.
Nature Cardiovascular Research, Springer Nature vol. 1 (10), 882-899.
01-10-2022
FRI198 Investigating the function of Endothelial-To-Mesenchymal transition during liver fibrogenesis using a Liver-On-A-Chip platformWhiteford J, Arokiasamy S, Thompson C, Alazawi W
Journal of Hepatology, Elsevier vol. 77
01-07-2022
Novel application of live imaging to determine the functional cell biology of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) within a liver-on-a-chip platformWhiteford J, Arokiasamy S, Thompson CL, Dufton NP
In Vitro Models, Springer Nature vol. 1 (6), 413-421.
01-01-2022
2020
Author Correction: Dynamic regulation of canonical TGFβ signalling by endothelial transcription factor ERG protects from liver fibrogenesis (Nature Communications, (2017), 8, 1, (895), 10.1038/s41467-017-01169-0)Dufton NP, Peghaire CR, Osuna-Almagro L, Raimondi C, Kalna V, Chauhan A, Webb G, Yang Y et al.
Nature Communications vol. 11 (1)
12-11-2020
2019
The transcription factor ERG regulates a low shear stress-induced anti-thrombotic pathway in the microvasculaturePeghaire C, Dufton NP, Lang M, Salles-Crawley II, Ahnström J, Kalna V, Raimondi C, Pericleous C et al.
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 10 (1)
01-11-2019
2018
Neuropilin-1 Controls Endothelial Homeostasis by Regulating Mitochondrial Function and Iron-Dependent Oxidative StressIssitt T, Bosseboeuf E, De Winter N, Dufton N, Gestri G, Senatore V, Chikh A, Randi AM et al.
Iscience, Elsevier vol. 11, 205-223.
11-12-2018
Consensus guidelines for the use and interpretation of angiogenesis assaysNowak-Sliwinska P, Alitalo K, Allen E, Anisimov A, Aplin AC, Auerbach R, Augustin HG, Bates DO et al.
Angiogenesis vol. 21 (3), 425-532.
10-07-2018
2017
Dynamic regulation of canonical TGFβ signalling by endothelial transcription factor ERG protects from liver fibrogenesisDufton NP, Peghaire CR, Osuna-Almagro L, Raimondi C, Kalna V, Chauhan A, Webb G, Yang Y et al.
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 8 (1)
12-10-2017
Investigation of cardiac fibroblasts using myocardial slicesPerbellini F, Watson SA, Scigliano M, Alayoubi S, Tkach S, Bardi I, Quaife N, Kane C et al.
Cardiovascular Research, Oxford University Press (Oup) vol. 114 (1), 77-89.
18-08-2017
The endothelial transcription factor ERG mediates Angiopoietin-1-dependent control of Notch signalling and vascular stabilityShah AV, Birdsey GM, Peghaire C, Pitulescu ME, Dufton NP, Yang Y, Weinberg I, Osuna Almagro L et al.
Nature Communications, Springer Nature vol. 8 (1)
11-07-2017
2016
Molecular dynamics studies on the DNA-binding process of ERGBeuerle MG, Dufton NP, Randi AM, Gould IR
Molecular Omics, Royal Society of Chemistry (Rsc) vol. 12 (12), 3600-3610.
01-01-2016
2015
The Endothelial Transcription Factor ERG Promotes Vascular Stability and Growth through Wnt/β-Catenin SignalingBirdsey GM, Shah AV, Dufton N, Reynolds LE, Almagro LO, Yang Y, Aspalter IM, Khan ST et al.
Developmental Cell, Elsevier vol. 32 (1), 82-96.
01-01-2015
2012
Up-Regulation of Annexin-A1 and Lipoxin A4 in Individuals with Ulcerative Colitis May Promote Mucosal HomeostasisVong L, Ferraz JGP, Dufton N, Panaccione R, Beck PL, Sherman PM, Perretti M, Wallace JL
Plos One, Public Library of Science (Plos) vol. 7 (6)
01-01-2012
2011
Anti-inflammatory role of the murine formyl-peptide receptor 2: ligand-specific effects on leukocyte responses and experimental inflammation (vol 184, pg 2611, 2010)Dufton N, Hannon R, Brancaleone V, Dalli J, Patel HB, Gray M, D'Acquisto F, Buckingham JC et al.
J Immunol vol. 186 (4), 2684-2685.
15-02-2011
2010
FPR2/ALX receptor expression and internalization are critical for lipoxin A(4) and annexin-derived peptide-stimulated phagocytosisMaderna P, Cottell DC, Toivonen T, Dufton N, Dalli J, Perretti M, Godson C
Faseb J vol. 24 (11), 4240-4249.
01-11-2010
Therapeutic anti-inflammatory potential of formyl-peptide receptor agonistsDufton N, Perretti M
Pharmacology & Therapeutics, Elsevier vol. 127 (2), 175-188.
08-06-2010
Anti-allergic drugs and the Annexin-A1 systemYazid S, Ayoub SS, Solito E, McArthur S, Phuong V, Flower RJ
Pharmacological Reports, Springer Nature vol. 62 (3), 511-517.
01-05-2010
Anti-Inflammatory Role of the Murine Formyl-Peptide Receptor 2: Ligand-Specific Effects on Leukocyte Responses and Experimental InflammationDufton N, Hannon R, Brancaleone V, Dalli J, Patel HB, Gray M, D'Acquisto F, Buckingham JC et al.
J Immunol vol. 184 (5), 2611-2619.
01-03-2010
2009
Quantitative Analysis of Promoter Activity by Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) Target/Reporter Strategy in a Novel Transgenic alx/fpr-rs2 Null MouseDufton NP, Hannon R, Perretti M, Flower R
Inflammation Research, Springer Nature vol. 58 (Suppl 2), s252-s255.
01-07-2009
2008
Interleukin 17 sustains rather than induces inflammationMaione F, Paschalidis N, Mascolo N, Dufton N, Perretti M, D’Acquisto F
Biochemical Pharmacology, Elsevier vol. 77 (5), 878-887.
25-11-2008
Placental inflammation leads to abnormal embryonic heart developmentWard EJ, Bert S, Fanti S, Dufton NP, Malone KM, Maughan RT, Prin F, Volpato LK et al.
In Biorxiv
Intracellular and nuclear CXCR4 signaling promotes erythroblast enucleationIn Research Square
Grants
Atypical Chemokine Receptors orchestrate changes in vascular patterning during fibrotic liver disease via Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition.Neil Dufton, William Alazawi and Antal Rot
£610,383 MRC Medical Research Council
08-05-2024 - 07-05-2027
Role of endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition in regulating immune cell recruitment during fibrosisNeil Dufton
£41,859 Royal Society
01-03-2024 - 31-08-2025
Investigating the therapeutic potential of disease-associated endothelial cells in liver diseaseNeil Dufton and William Alazawi
£35,000 Barts and the London Charity
02-03-2020 - 30-04-2022