A colored scanning electron micrograph of two T lymphocyte cells (yellow) attached to a cancer cell (green). T lymphocytes are a type of white blood cell and a component of the body's immune system. They recognize a specific target—an antigen—on the surface of the cancer cell and bind to it. Once a T-cell has bound to the cancer cell it can signal for other immune cells to destroy it.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MICROGRAPH BY STEVE GSCHMEISSNER, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Arianna Palladini, PI, PhD, Assistant Professor
Email: arianna.palladini@unipv.it
Phone: +39 3497510077
Mariateresa Frascino (MSc, fellow)
Irene Siracusa (BSc, fellow)
Beatrice Bisanti (BSc, MSc internship)
Mary Pitzalis (BSc, MSc internship)
Martina Di Noia (BSc, MSc internship)
Cancer vaccines may become a key resource to prevent the tumor onset in patients at high-risk of developing cancer and at the same time may be an alternative for patients that had experience of drug resistance and no medication can be administered any longer. Besides, cancer vaccines are an affordable strategy, especially those based on mRNA and DNA technologies, for tumors bearing uncommon or rare mutations.
Our mission is to define antigens exploitable for the development of vaccines against lung cancer and other tumors. We propose a multidisciplinary circular approach. We start from the patient and the study of the clinical case. We provide a molecular characterization of the tumor and its microenvironment, an analysis of the spontaneous immune reactivity against the tumor. We aim to investigate the protein structure of candidate antigens and their functional role is assessed through in vitro studies. Then, candidate antigens are tested by in silico trials to access the next phase consisting of the in vivo validation.
At the end this process we release promising oncoantigens useful for the development of vaccines able to offer a therapeutic alternative to cancer patients.
Editorial: Inhibitors of CDK family: New perspective and rationale for drug combination in preclinical models of solid tumors. Cavazzoni A, Palladini A.Front Oncol. 2023 Mar 28;13:1180650. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2023.1180650. eCollection 2023.PMID: 37056348 Free PMC article.
ADK-VR2, a cell line derived from a treatment-naïve patient with SDC4-ROS1 fusion-positive primarily crizotinib-resistant NSCLC: a novel preclinical model for new drug development of ROS1-rearranged NSCLC. Ruzzi F, Angelicola S, Landuzzi L, Nironi E, Semprini MS, Scalambra L, Altimari A, Gruppioni E, Fiorentino M, Giunchi F, Ferracin M, Astolfi A, Indio V, Ardizzoni A, Gelsomino F, Nanni P, Lollini PL, Palladini A.Transl Lung Cancer Res. 2022 Nov;11(11):2216-2229. doi: 10.21037/tlcr-22-163.PMID: 36519016 Free PMC article.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors in lung tumors with rare histologies and other thoracic malignancies. Andrini E, Federico AD, Sisi M, Rosellini M, Palladini A, Lamberti G, Giglio A, Gelsomino F.Immunotherapy. 2022 Nov;14(16):1329-1340. doi: 10.2217/imt-2022-0060. Epub 2022 Nov 16.PMID: 36382476 Review.
Ruzzi, F.; Palladini, A.; Clemmensen, S.; Strøbæk, A.; Buijs, N.; Domeyer, T.; Dorosz, J.; Soroka, V.; Grzadziela, D.; Rasmussen, C.J.; Nielsen, I.B.; Soegaard, M.; Semprini, M.S.; Scalambra, L.; Angelicola, S.; Landuzzi, L.; Lollini, P.-L.; Thorn, M. Prevention and Therapy of Metastatic HER-2+ Mammary Carcinoma with a Human Candidate HER-2 Virus-like Particle Vaccine. Biomedicines 2022, 10, 2654. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines10102654
Di Federico, A.; De Giglio, A.; Gelsomino, F.; De Biase, D.; Giunchi, F.; Palladini, A.; Sperandi, F.; Melotti, B.; Ardizzoni, A. Genomic Landscape, Clinical Features and Outcomes of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients Harboring BRAF Alterations of Distinct Functional Classes. Cancers 2022, 14, 3472. https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers14143472