Università degli Studi di PADOVA - Docente a contratto
Person
ISTITUTO ONCOLOGICO VENETO (IRCCS) - Ricercatore/Ricercatrice presso Ente di ricerca
RDF description of SCARPA MARCO - http://irises.unipd.it/resource/person/11204
Agent
Esophageal adenocarcinoma is an increasingly common cancer with a poor prognosis that almost always develops in metaplastic Barrett's esophagus. SerpinB3, an anti-apoptotic and pro-proliferative molecule, has been found to be abnormally expressed in esophageal cancer of patients with worst survival. The goals of our study will be i) to evaluate the expression of SerpinB3 in the context of experimental inflammatory esophageal carcinogenesis and ii) to test the inhibitory effect of a newly identified compound. If positive results will be obtained, toxicity studies will be carried out, paving the way to phase I studies. Moreover, to assess the possible use of SerpinB3 as prognostic marker of esophageal cancer progression, nanobodybased molecular tracers targeting SerpinB3 will be developed and tested i) in experimental animals and ii) in a large cohort of Barret's esophagus and dysplasia archived specimens.
Independent Continuant
Università degli Studi di PADOVA - Ricercatore/Ricercatrice universitario a t.d.
Hypothesis The main hypothesis underlying our research is that the aggressiveness of rectal cancer is determined by the complex interactions between the malignant cells and their immune microenvironment. The second hypothesis is that relevant trace of this cross talk between tumor cells and immune microenvironment can be detected in the normal mucosa surrounding the cancer according to the concept of field cancerization. Aims The aim of this project is to analyze the healthy rectal mucosa surrounding the cancer to identify traces of immunosurveillance mechanisms and of field cancerization and to use them to obtain a composite prognostic test to predict nodal metastasis in early rectal cancer and recurrence after complete response at neoadjuvant therapy in case of locally advanced rectal cancer. Experimental Design This prognostic test will be constructed on the combinatory analysis of the transcriptome, immune and epithelial cells cross-talk, immune checkpoints and miRNA expression in normal rectal mucosa surrounding cancer. The project aims: 1. to predict the presence of nodal metastasis in patients with early rectal cancer. 2. to identify, among locally advanced rectal cancer, those with sustained complete response to neoadjuvant chemo/radiotherapy. Each aims is articulated in two steps. In step A, we will retrospectively analyze archival tissue samples in order to identify the most performing biomarkers; in step B, we will validate the prognostic performance of the markers identified in phase I through a prospective analysis of rectal mucosa specimen.