Mark Toshner
Associate Professor of Respiratory Medicine
Email: mrt34@medschl.cam.ac.uk
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Twitter: @mark_toshner
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Biography
Mark Toshner is the Director of the Heart and Lung Research Institute NIHR Clinical Research Facility, an Associate Professor in Respiratory Medicine and an honorary consultant in Royal Papworth Hospital where he specialises in pulmonary vascular disease. Dr Toshner established the concept of using blood-derived endothelial cells from patients to define endothelial dysfunction in PAH during his time on a BHF Training Fellowship and subsequent Wellcome/NIHR Lecturership. This work led directly to new therapies targeting the endothelial BMPR2 pathway being developed by a spinout biotechnology company (MorphogenIX) and the first therapy successful in phase 3 studies targeting the BMPR2 pathway (Sotatercept).
Research Approach:
Dr Toshner is an active clinician, working predominantly in patients with pulmonary hypertension and chronic thromboembolic disease. He is the Director of the national pulmonary hypertension experimental medicine network, UniPHy, and his research group is focused on improving outcomes for patients with pulmonary hypertension using adaptive, decentralised and digital techniques in trial design coupled to investigator-driven networks to improve efficiency of drug validation in early phase trials. He was Chief-Investigator for the first UK pulmonary hypertension trial to recruit from all specialist centres within the UK and has been a Chief-Investigator, Co-Investigator, or Sub-Investigator in 22 phase 2-3 clinical trials, including four therapies and a vaccine that have achieved marketing authorisation. He is Joint Chief-Investigator for HEAL-COVID, the world’s first decentralised therapeutic platform trial for the post-hospital phase of Covid-19.
Current projects:
StratosPHere 1- Optimal biomarkers to ascertain target engagement in therapies targeting the BMPR2 pathway in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) (MRC DPFS funded)
StratosPHere 2- A response-adaptive randomised placebo-controlled Phase II trial to evaluate hydroxychloroquine and phenylbutyrate in pulmonary arterial hypertension caused by mutations in BMPR2 (MRC DPFS funded)
Cohort Digital- the use of minimally- and non-invasive technology in patient follow-up (NIHR and BHF funded)
HEAL-COVID- HElping Alleviate the Longer-term consequences of COVID-19 (HEAL-COVID): a national platform trial (NIHR HTA funded)
Selected Publication
- Humbert M, Kovacs G, Hoeper MM, Badagliacca R, Berger RMF, Brida M, Carlsen J, Coats AJS, Escribano-Subias P, Ferrari P, Ferreira DS, Ghofrani HA, Giannakoulas G, Kiely DG, Mayer E, Meszaros G, Nagavci B, Olsson KM, Pepke-Zaba J, Quint JK, Rådegran G, Simonneau G, Sitbon O, Tonia T, Toshner M, Vachiery JL, Vonk Noordegraaf A, Delcroix M, Rosenkranz S; ESC/ERS Scientific Document Group. 2022 ESC/ERS Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension. Eur Heart J. 2022 Oct 11;43(38):3618-3731.
- Jones RJ, De Bie EMDD, Groves E, Zalewska KI, Swietlik EM, Treacy CM, Martin JM, Polwarth G, Li W, Guo J, Baxendale HE, Coleman S, Savinykh N, Coghlan JG, Corris PA, Howard LS, Johnson MK, Church C, Kiely DG, Lawrie A, Lordan JL, Mackenzie Ross RV, Pepke Zaba J, Wilkins MR, Wort SJ, Fiorillo E, Orrù V, Cucca F, Rhodes CJ, Gräf S, Morrell NW, McKinney EF, Wallace C, Toshner M. Autoimmunity is a Significant Feature of Idiopathic Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 01 Jul 2022, 206(1):81-93.
- Toshner M, Church C, Harbaum L, Rhodes C, Villar Moreschi S, Liley J, Jones R, Arora A, Batai K, Desai AA, Coghlan JG, Gibbs JSR, Gor D, Gräf S, Harlow L, Hernandez-Sanchez J, Howard LS, Humbert M, Karnes J, Kiely DG, Kittles R, Knightbridge E, Lam B, Lutz KA, Nichols WC, Pauciulo MW, Pepke-Zaba J, Suntharalingam J, Soubrier F, Trembath RC, Schwantes-An TL, Wort SJ, Wilkins MR, Gaine S, Morrell NW, Corris PA; Uniphy Clinical Trials Network. Mendelian randomization and experimental medicine approaches to IL-6 as a drug target in PAH. Eur Respir J. 2022 Mar 10;59(3):2002463.
- Voysey M, Clemens SAC, Madhi SA, Weckx LY, Folegatti PM, Aley PK, Angus B, Baillie VL, Barnabas SL, Bhorat QE, Bibi S, Briner C, Cicconi P, Collins AM, Colin-Jones R, Cutland CL, Darton TC, Dheda K, Duncan CJA, Emary KRW, Ewer KJ, Fairlie L, Faust SN, Feng S, Ferreira DM, Finn A, Goodman AL, Green CM, Green CA, Heath PT, Hill C, Hill H, Hirsch I, Hodgson SHC, Izu A, Jackson S, Jenkin D, Joe CCD, Kerridge S, Koen A, Kwatra G, Lazarus R, Lawrie AM, Lelliott A, Libri V, Lillie PJ, Mallory R, Mendes AVA, Milan EP, Minassian AM, McGregor A, Morrison H, Mujadidi YF, Nana A, O'Reilly PJ, Padayachee SD, Pittella A, Plested E, Pollock KM, Ramasamy MN, Rhead S, Schwarzbold AV, Singh N, Smith A, Song R, Snape MD, Sprinz E, Sutherland RK, Tarrant R, Thomson EC, Torok ME, Toshner M, Turner DPJ, Vekemans J, Villafana TL, Watson MEE, Williams CJ, Douglas AD, Hill AVS, Lambe T, Gilbert SC, Pollard AJ; Oxford COVID Vaccine Trial Group. Safety and efficacy of the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine (AZD1222) against SARS-CoV-2: an interim analysis of four randomised controlled trials in Brazil, South Africa, and the UK. Lancet. 2021; Jan 9; 397(10269):99-111.
- Bunclark K, Newnham M, Chiu YD, Ruggiero A, Villar SS, Cannon JE, Coghlan G, Corris PA, Howard L, Jenkins D, Johnson M, Kiely DG, Ng C, Screaton N, Sheares K, Taboada D, Tsui S, Wort JS, Pepke-Zaba J, Toshner M. A Multicentre study of anticoagulation in operable chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. J Thromb Haemost. 2020; 18:114-122.
Research collaborators/links
Internal
Professor Charlotte Summers
Dr Chris Wallace
Dr Sofia Villar-Moreschi
Professor Eoin McKinney
