Dr Noor Lokman

Dr Lokman is an emerging leader in the field of ovarian cancer research at the Reproductive Cancer Group (co-led by Dr Carmela Ricciardelli (The University of Adelaide) and Prof Martin Oehler (Royal Adelaide Hospital)). Dr Lokman has received over $0.86M in funding (5 grants as CIA, $231,863) for her work in ovarian cancer research, including 13 awards. To date, Dr Lokman has 40 publications including one book chapter with 1,934 citations (Google Scholar assessed on 20/09/2024, h-index=21).  

Dr Lokman’s research activities include:  

• Development of a chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay – Dr Lokman was the first to set up the CAM assay in South Australia using chicken embryos to study ovarian cancer cell invasion and metastasis in vivo (Lokman NA et al., Int J Mol Sci, 2012). This assay has been used in collaboration with other researchers in other cancer types (Das R et al., Cancer Res, 2017, Shakya R et al., Oncogene, 2017, Zhu W et al., Cancer Res, 2017 and Lee E et al., Cancers, 2020). Dr Lokman has also written a book chapter on the CAM assay as a model for cancer invasion and metastasis (Lokman NA et al., Animal Biotechnology 2^nd edition, 2020).
• Validation of autoantibodies as biomarkers – Dr Lokman has independently developed and optimised a custom luminex assay for measuring autoantibodies in patient blood samples. This involved testing a large cohort of blood samples collected from Australia and internationally. Ongoing studies will evaluate the performance of these novel biomarkers with CA125 to improve the sensitivity and specificity for early detection of ovarian cancer.
• Ex vivo patient derived tissue explant assay – Dr Lokman directly assisted in this valuable pre-clinical model for screening novel therapeutics in patient tissue samples. (Ricciardelli C et al. 2018, Cancer Lett), (Lokman NA et al. 2019, Journal of Exp & Clin Can Res), (Rahaman MH et al. 2019, Mol Oncol), (Lokman NA et al. 2019, Cancers) and (Bantie L et al. 2020, Gynecol Oncol).
• Carboplatin resistant ovarian cancer cell lines – Dr Lokman generated these cell lines with repeated exposure to carboplatin, and these cells are currently used for proteomics, gene expression and functional studies; (Weiland F et al. 2016, J Proteome Res), (Lokman NA et al. 2019, Cancers) and (Wanqi W et al. 2021, Cancer Drug Resist).
• Spheroids assay – Dr Lokman has optimized and developed a spheroid assay to study ovarian cancer cell lines and primary ovarian cancer cells. (Acland M et al. 2018, Proteomics Clin Appl), (Lokman NA et al. 2019, Cancers) and (Mittal P et al. 2019, Proteomics).
• Early detection of ovarian cancer – Dr Lokman has the expertise to perform ELISA assay and statistical analysis (logistic regression analysis) to study novel ovarian cancer biomarkers with CA125. (Weiland F et al. Front Oncol, 2019) and (Lokman NA et al. Diagnostics, 2021)
• Novel therapeutic targets for ovarian cancer – Dr Lokman is currently investigating the functional roles of candidate cancer-related proteins including annexin A2 (Lokman NA et al., Cancer Microenviron, 2011, Lokman NA et al., Oncotarget, 2013, Lokman NA et al Journal of Exp & Clin Can Res, 2019), TGFB1 (Ween MP et al. Int J of Cancer, 2011), hyaluronan (Lokman et al., Cancers, 2019), transketolase (Ricciardelli C et al., Clin and Exp Metastasis, 2013), cytokeratin 5 (Ricciardelli C et al, Oncotarget, 2017), ABCA1 (Wanqi et al. 2021, Cancer Drug Resist), piRNA pathway genes (Lee E et al., Cancers, 2020), and gonadotrophin receptors (Cheung J et al. Int J Mol Sci, 2021). These proteins are implicated in ovarian cancer chemoresistance and are potential markers that may prognosticate patient outcomes.

Project 1

Title: Novel therapeutics for ovarian cancer targeting annexin A2

Description: Ovarian cancer caused 207,252 deaths worldwide in 2020. Current treatments consist of surgery followed by chemotherapy, but over 75% of patients relapse and acquire chemotherapy resistance. There is an urgent need for more efficient treatment strategies against ovarian cancer. Our research focuses on understanding the crosstalk between ovarian cancer cells and the tumour microenvironment. Using proteomics approach, we identified annexin A2 to be upregulated by ovarian cancer cells when they interact with the peritoneum, and thereby promoting metastasis. High annexin A2 expression has been associated with poor survival in ovarian cancer patients.

This project will investigate the effects of annexin A2 inhibition in ovarian cancer cell lines and knockdown of annexin A2 expression will be confirm using RT-PCR and western blot. The effects of annexin A2 inhibition will be examine using functional assays including 3D spheroids assays, cell proliferation and apoptosis assay, cell motility and invasion assay and the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay. This project will evaluate the efficacy of annexin A2 inhibitors to block ovarian cancer progression and metastasis.

Location: Adelaide Health and Medical Sciences Building, North Terrace

Co-supervisors: Dr Carmela Ricciardelli, Prof Martin Oehler

Research project start: Semester 1 and 2

Available for: Third year and Honours