Luca Di Tommaso

The main field of my research is Liver Pathology. In my early studies I investigated the morphological, phenotypical and molecular aspects of human hepato-carcinogenesis (and in particular those of pre- and early- neoplastic lesions, see selected publications 1 and 2). I then moved to the study of prognostic features of more advanced forms of hepato- and cholangio- cellular carcinoma (Primary Liver Cancer, PLC). All the above researches were focused on tumoral cells. More recently, I focused my attention on the study of tumoral microenvironment in PLC and in liver metastases, in particular Tumoral Endothelial Cells (TEC, see selected publication 3).

Other fields of interest are represented by Breast, Thymic and Thyroid pathology: in each of these fields, I contributed to identify novel entities (such as the adenoid cystic variant of Thymic carcinoma). Accordingly, I am one of the authors of the 5^th version of WHO Classification of Thymic Tumors. I have a strong commitment for History of Medicine: this latter and Pathology, are my teaching topics at Humanitas University.

The goal of my research was and still is the identification and set up of diagnostic, prognostic and predictive markers. Along this line, I recently developed a strong interest in the field of digital-, computational- and augmented- pathology (see selected publications 4 and 5). These, which taken as a whole go under the definition of e-Pathology, best represent the future scenario of my research and possibly its most relevant translational aspects.

1. Di Tommaso L, Franchi G, Park NY, Fiamengo B, Destro A, Morenghi E, Montorsi M, Torzilli G, Tommasini M, Terracciano L, Tornillo L, Vecchione R, Roncalli M. Diagnostic value of HSP70, glypican 3 and glutamine synthetase in hepatocellular nodules in cirrhosis. Hepatology 2007; 45(3): 725-735
2. Di Tommaso L, Destro A, Seok JY, Balladore E, Terracciano L, Sangiovanni A, Iavarone M, Colombo M, Jang JJ, Yu E, Jin SY, marenghi M, Park YN, Roncalli M The application of a panel of markers (hsp 70, gpc3, gs) in liver biopsies is useful for HCC detection. Journal of Hepatology 2009; 50(4): 746-54
3. RenneSL, WooHY, AllegraA, Rudini N, YanoH, Donadon M, ViganòL, AkibaJ, LeeHS, RheeH, ParkYN, RoncalliM, Di Tommaso L. VETC (vessels encapsulating tumor clusters) is a powerful predictor of aggressive hepatocellular carcinoma. 2020; 71(1):183-195
4. Cancian P, Cortese N, Donadon M, Di Maio M, Soldani C, Marchesi F, Savevski V, Santambrogio MD, Cerina L, Laino ME, Torzilli G, Mantovani A, Terracciano L, Roncalli M, Di Tommaso L. Development of a Deep-Learning Pipeline to Recognize and Characterize Macrophages in Colo-Rectal Liver Metastasis. Cancers (Basel). 2021; 13(13):3313.
5. Lancellotti C, Cancian P, Savevski V, Kotha SRR, Fraggetta F, Graziano P, Di Tommaso L. Artificial Intelligence & Tissue Biomarkers: Advantages, Risks and Perspectives for Pathology. Cells. 2021;10(4):787.