Associate Professor Nuala Ann Helsby

BSc(Hons), PhD

Associate Professor

In: Molecular Medicine and Pathology » Medical Science » Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

Honorary Academic

In: Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre » Medical Science » Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences

Research | Current

"Understanding the inherited differences between individuals may help us improve the safe and effective use of medications and other therapies”.

How do your genes influence drug disposition?

Some people can respond well and others may have substantial side effects when given the same medication. Numerous factors affect how the body handles a drug, but one reason is the inherited differences in the expression of drug metabolising enzymes or drug transporters - this is known as pharmacogenetics. There has been a lot of optimism that sequencing the human genome will allow tailored selection of the appropriate drug at the right dose for each individual patient. However, many of the genes important in drug disposition are readily up- and down-regulated by either disease processes, the co-administration of other drugs and even dietary changes. Understanding gene expression and epigenetic regulation (pharmacogenomics) is an important and often overlooked component of “personalised medicine”.

Much of my research focusses on the pharmacogenomics of common cancer medications, because of the very narrow window between a safe and effective dose and life-threatening side effects. I also have an interest in how genomics may predict chronic pain after breast cancer surgery as well as the role of pharmacogenomics in treatments for autoimmune disease.

To do this type of research we need to determine an individual’s genetic make-up, to understand the complex processes underpinning drug disposition, accurately quantify drug levels in a patients and also have clinical information about patient outcomes. This requires strong links between the laboratory and clinicians. We have expertise in measuring drugs and their metabolites using analytical techniques such as LC/MS, genomics and design of clinical trials.

My research group includes:

Dr Kathryn Burns (Maurice & Phyllis Paykel Trust Research Fellow)

Dr Soo Hee Jeong

Umaiyaall Shanmugaraajah, research technician

We are also hosting Dr Edmond Ang (ADHB) a Clinical Research Fellow in Medical Oncology

as well as postgraduate research students.

Teaching | Current

Course director and lecturer for MEDSCI 301 Molecular basis of disease.

Course director for MEDSCI 701 Special Studies in Medical Sciences.

I also teach on the following courses:

MEDSCI 101G Environmental threats to health

MEDSCI 203 Mechanisms of disease

MEDSCI 301 Molecular basis of disease

MEDSCI 302 Cancer biology

MEDSCI 303 Drug disposition and kinetics

MEDSCI 306 Principles of Toxicology

MEDSCI 706 Genomic medicine

MEDSCI 715 Molecular toxicology

MEDSCI 716 Drug disposition and kinetics

MEDSCI 745 Special topic: Drug development

PHARM 767 Advanced pharmacotherapy

MBChB221B Principles of clinical pharmacology

Nursing785 Clinical reasoning in pharmacotherapeutics

Postgraduate supervision

Current supervision

Daniel Chiang (PhD candidate)
Maia van Kan (PhD candidate)
Minghan Yong (PhD candidate)

Co-supervision with Dr Kathryn Burns

Ursula Burns Maybury (MSc candidate)
Alice Cho (BSc Hons candidate)

Distinctions/Honours

International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology (IUPHAR) https://iuphar.org/.
- Drug Metabolism and Drug Transporter section: Vice-chair (2018-2022) and councillor on the executive board (2014-2018)

Member of the pharmacogenomics research network (PGRN) www.pgrn.org (2019- )

PharmVar (pharmacogene varation consortium) www.pharmvar.org Member (2019- present)

Australasian Society of Clinical Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology (ASCEPT) www.ascept.org
- Member of council (2017-present)
- Chair of ASCEPT-NZ section (2017-present)
- Secretary of ASCEPT-NZ section (Nov 2011-2014)
- NZ representative, Pharmacogenetics Special Interest Group (2007-present)

British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/13652125
- Executive editor (2012-present)

Responsibilities

Review editor for Frontiers in Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics (2011-present)

Ad hoc reviewer for the international journals: Clinical Pharmacokinetics, Molecular Pharmaceutics and Special issue of Mutation Research - Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, Chemico-Biological Interactions, Cancer Gene Therapy, British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, Environmental Toxicology and Pharmacology, Drug Metabolism and Drug Interactions, Cancer Chemotherapy and Pharmacology, Australian Medical Student Journal, European Journal of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics

Invited member of the reviewer panel for Current Drug Metabolism and Drug Metabolism Letters (2012-2014)

Areas of expertise

Pharmacogenetics, human pharmacology, biotransformation, transporters and cancer drugs

Committees/Professional groups/Services

Member

British Pharmacology Society
Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology
New Zealand Society for Oncology

Member of the grant assessment committee (2017- present) for Cancer Research Trust NZ www.cancerresearchtrustnz.org.nz

Selected publications and creative works (Research Outputs)

Helsby, N. A., Duley, J., Burns, K. E., Bonnet, C., Jeong, S. H., Brenman, E., ... Findlay, M. (2020). A case-control study to assess the ability of the thymine challenge test to predict patients with severe to life threatening fluoropyrimidine-induced gastrointestinal toxicity. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 86 (1), 155-164. 10.1111/bcp.14153
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Katie Burns, Soo Hee Jeong, Michael Findlay
van Kan, M., Burns, K. E., Browett, P., & Helsby, N. A. (2019). A higher throughput assay for quantification of melphalan-induced DNA damage in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Scientific Reports, 910.1038/s41598-019-55161-3
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Maia van Kan, Katie Burns, Peter Browett
Alexander, S. P. H., Fabbro, D., Kelly, E., Mathie, A., Peters, J. A., Veale, E. L., ... Pawson, A. J. (2019). THE CONCISE GUIDE TO PHARMACOLOGY 2019/20: Enzymes. British journal of pharmacology, 176 Suppl 1, S297-S396. 10.1111/bph.14752
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Katie Burns
Burns, K. E., Allright, D., Porter, D., Findlay, M. P., & Helsby, N. A. (2019). A simple ex vivo bioassay for 5-FU transport into healthy buccal mucosal cells. Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology, 84 (4), 739-748. 10.1007/s00280-019-03904-4
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Katie Burns, Michael Findlay
Chiang, D. L. C., Rice, D. A., Helsby, N. A., Somogyi, A. A., & Kluger, M. T. (2019). The Prevalence, Impact, and Risk Factors for Persistent Pain After Breast Cancer Surgery in a New Zealand Population. Pain medicine (Malden, Mass.), 20 (9), 1803-1814. 10.1093/pm/pnz049
Helsby, N. A., Yong, M., van Kan, M., de Zoysa, J. R., & Burns, K. E. (2019). The importance of both CYP2C19 and CYP2B6 germline variations in cyclophosphamide pharmacokinetics and clinical outcomes. British journal of clinical pharmacology, 85 (9), 1925-1934. 10.1111/bcp.14031
URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2292/48310
Other University of Auckland co-authors: Katie Burns, Maia van Kan, Janak de Zoysa
Duley, J. A., Ni, M., Shannon, C., Norris, R. L., Sheffield, L., Cowley, D., ... George, R. (2018). Preliminary Evidence for Enhanced Thymine Absorption: A Putative New Phenotype Associated With Fluoropyrimidine Toxicity in Cancer Patients. Therapeutic drug monitoring, 40 (4), 495-502. 10.1097/ftd.0000000000000532
Tucci, J. D., Pumuye, P. P., Helsby, N. A., Barratt, D. T., Pokeya, P. P., Hombhanje, F., & Somogyi, A. A. (2018). Pharmacogenomics in Papua New Guineans: unique profiles and implications for enhancing drug efficacy while improving drug safety. Pharmacogenetics and genomics, 28 (6), 153-164. 10.1097/fpc.0000000000000335