Institutional appointments
Head, Laboratory of Cancer Pharmacology, Humanitas Research Hospital
Teaching appointments
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Via Rita Levi Montalcini 4, 20090 Pieve Emanuele – Milan, Italy
Academic background
- Head, Department of Oncology, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri IRCCS
- Professor and Internal examiner of the International Graduate Program of the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri organized in collaboration with the Open University, which confers the PhD title
- Professor of the Advanced School in Pharmacological Sciences of the Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, which confers the title of “Dottore di Ricerca”
Education
- 1971 Graduated from High School (Liceo Scientifico)
- 1978 Graduated in Medicine and Surgery, University of Milan
- 1978 Post-graduated internship, Gynecological Oncology Department, University of Milan
- 1979 Degree in Pharmacology
- 1981 Degree in Oncology
Academic honors, awards and prices
- 1977 Graduate summa cum laude
- 1981 Rank number one in specialization in Oncology
- 1986 Recipient European School of Oncology Award for Cancer Chemotherapy
- 2015 Recipient of the “Prodi” Award in recognition of his scientific carrier
- 2018 Recipient of the Guido Venosta FIRC Award for Cancer Research by the President of the Republic of Italy
His studies have been essential to guide the preclinical and clinical investigation of the marine natural product trabectedin, a drug currently used worldwide for the therapy of soft tissue sarcomas and some other solid malignancies. Recently he has identified novel mechanistically-driven combinations of trabectedin with other drugs. These combinations have been successfully tested in preclinical models of liposarcomas and are currently under investigation in the clinic.
Over the years he has elucidated the mode of action and the pharmacological properties of several novel compounds, some of which have been developed in the clinic as anticancer agents.
His team has developed methods to determine drugs in tumors by applying a variety of methods including Imaging Mass Spectrometry demonstrating that resistance against treatment is not only related to molecular changes of drug targets, but also to low and heterogeneous tumor penetration of anticancer agents.
His recent preclinical and translational research has been mainly focused on soft tissue sarcomas, mesotheliomas and ovarian cancer. As far as ovarian cancer his team has recently identified molecular biomarkers that can be used to optimize and monitor the therapy and are potentially exploitable for an early diagnosis of this disease.
- Paracchini L., Beltrame L., Grassi T., Inglesi A., Fruscio R., Landoni F., Ippolito D., Delle Marchette M., Paderno M.C., Adorni M., Jaconi M., Romualdi C., D’Incalci M., Siravegna G., Marchini S. Genome-wide copy number alterations in circulating tumor DNA as a novel biomarker in high grade serous ovarian cancer patients. Clin. Cancer Res., 27(9): 2549-2559 (2021)
- Frapolli R., Bello E., Ponzo M., Craparotta I., Mannarino L., Ballabio S., Marchini S., Carrassa L., Ubezio P., Porcu L., Brich S., Sanfilippo R., Casali P.G., Gronchi A., Pilotti S., D’Incalci M. Combination of PPARg agonist pioglitazone and trabectedin induce adipocyte differentiation to overcome trabectedin resistance in myxoid liposarcomas. Clin. Cancer Res., 25: 7565-7575 (2019).
- Garattini S., Fuso Nerini I., D’Incalci M. Not only tumor but also therapy heterogeneity. Oncol., 29: 13-19 (2018).
- Di Giandomenico S., Frapolli R., Bello E., Uboldi S., Licandro S.A., Brich S., Mauro V., Tamborini E., Pilotti S., Casali P., Grosso F., Sanfilippo R., Gronchi A., Mantovani R., Galmarini C., Fernandez Sousa-Faro J.M., D’Incalci M. Mode of action of trabectedin in myxoid liposarcomas. Oncogene, 33(44): 5201-5210 (2014).
- Germano G., Frapolli R., Belgiovine C., Anselmo A., Pesce S., Liguori M., Erba E., Uboldi S., Zucchetti M., Pasqualini F., Nebuloni M., Van Rooijen N., Mortarini R., Beltrame L., Marchini S., Fuso Nerini I., Sanfilippo R., Casali P.G., Pilotti S., Anichini A., Mantovani A., D’Incalci M., Allavena P. Role of Macrophage targeting in the anti-tumor activity of Trabectedin. Cancer Cell, 23(2): 249-262 (2013).
