Dr Keith Hunter BSc (hons), BDS (hons), FDS RCSEd, PhD, FRCPath

Clinical Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant

Academic Unit of Oral & Maxillofacial
Pathology
The University of Sheffield
19 Claremont Crescent
Sheffield
S10 2TA
UK

Tel: 0114 271 7956
Fax: 0114 271 7863

email : k.hunter@sheffield.ac.uk

Biography

I was appointed as Senior Clinical Lecturer and honorary consultant in Oral Pathology at the University of Sheffield in April 2009, after training in Pathology at Glasgow Dental School and Glasgow Royal Infirmary. I undertook my PhD at the CRUK Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow. Before entering pathology training I worked in hospital dentistry and in general dental practice.

Research Interests

I am Leader of the Integrated Biosciences Research group in the School.

My main research interest is in the early events in oral carcinogenesis and keratinocyte immortalisation, particularly the genetic and epigenetic events associated with early invasion. I have ongoing projects investigating patterns of gene expression and genomic alteration in HNSCC, epigenetic control of gene expression and the roles of the inflammatory and angiogenic responses in early HNSCC.

My main clinical research interests are in the use of sentinel node biopsy in Head and Neck cancer and other clinical prognostic factors in Head and Neck cancer. I also have a particular interest in tooth pathology and odontogenic lesions/tumours.

Oral Disease Research Group

Teaching Interests

I teach general and oral pathology in BDS years 1, 2, 4 and 5, in a combination of lectures, seminars, practical classes and case based discussions. I am also a module convenor for the MMedSci in Diagnostic Oral Pathology. I also teach and examine at a number of other postgraduate courses in the North Trent region and further afield, including the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow.

MMedSci in Diagnostic Oral Pathology

Professional activities

I am Clinical Lead and MDT Lead for the Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology diagnostic service at CCDH and Lead Pathologist for the Head and Neck NSSG for North Trent.

I serve as Treasurer and member of Council of the International Association of Oral Pathologists and am a member of Council of the British Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology

Current projects

• Lav Darda: The role of miR196 in the control of Hox gene expression in head and neck and lung cancer (PhD project, with Dan Lambert)
• Fahad Hakami: The role of the homeobox gene HOXD10 in Lung and Head & Neck carcinoma (PhD project, with Penella Woll)
• Rob Bolt: The use of biomarkers in the analysis and clinical management of Human Papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal carcinoma (CRUK Clinical Doctoral training Fellow)

Key publications

1. Rauch J, Moran-Jones K, Albrecht V, Schwarzl T, Hunter K, Gires O, Kolch W (2011) c-Myc regulates A-Raf kinase splicing and ERK pathway activation. Cancer Research, 71:4664-4674 [link to text]
2. Wood HM, Bolt R, Hunter KD. Is next-generation sequencing an important tool in HPV subtype diagnosis? Expert Rev Mol Diagn. 2012 Sep;12(7):663-5 [link to text]
3. Thurlow JK, Peña Murillo CL, Hunter KD, Buffa FM, Patiar S, Betts G, West CML, Harris AL, Parkinson EK, Harrison PR, Ozanne BW, Partridge M, Kalna G. (2010) Spectral clustering of microarray data elucidates the roles of microenvironment remodelling and immune responses in survival of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Journal of Clinical Oncology, J Clin Oncol. 2010 Jun 10;28(17):2881-8. [link to text]
4. Alkureishi LWT, Ross GL, Shoaib T, Soutar DS, Robertson AG, Thompson R, Hunter KD, Sorensen JA, Thomsen J, Krogdahl A, Alvarez J, Barbier L, Santamaria J, Poli T, Sesenna E, Kovács AF, Grünwald F, Barzan L, Sulfaro S, Alberti F. (2010) Sentinel node biopsy in head and neck squamous cell cancer: 5-year follow-up of a European multicentre trial. Ann Surg Oncol, 17:2459-64. [link to text]
5. Gusterson BA & Hunter KD (2009) Should we be surprised at the lack of response to EGFR inhibitors? Lancet Oncology, 10(5):522-7 [link to text]
6. Nibbs RJ, Gilchrist DS, King V, Ferra A, Forrow S, Hunter KD, Graham GJ. (2007). The atypical chemokine receptor D6 suppresses the development of chemically induced skin tumors. J Clin Invest 117(7): 1884-92. [link to text]
7. Hunter KD, Thurlow JK, Fleming J, Drake PJ, Vass JK, Kalna G, Higham DJ, Herzyk P, Macdonald DG, Parkinson EK, Harrison PR. (2006) Divergent routes to oral cancer. Cancer Res; 66(15):7405-13. [link to text]
8. Hunter, KD, Parkinson, EK and Harrison, PR (2005). Profiling early head and neck cancer. Nature Rev Cancer, 5, 127-35. [link to text]