Niccola Funel, PhD
48th Annual Pancreas Club Meeting
May 2-3, 2014 (Chicago), Illinois
Bioluminescent orthotopic pancreatic-ductal-
adenocarcinoma (PDAC) mouse models derived from
primary PDAC cells as a platform for therapeutic
discovery
WORKSHOP "Ricerca e Innovazione Clinica"
4 Luglio 2014
DIPINT UNIVERSITA’ DI PISA
Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana – U.O. Chirurgia
Generale e Trapianti nell’Uremico e nel Diabetico
Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana – U.O. Radiologia
Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana – U.O Anatomia
Pathologica
Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana – U.O. di Oncologia
Medica
Pancreas Unit
Pancreas Unit
TIME LINE
10 Years
2003 2013
PPPD
PDAC
6 31/07/2014
Cancer Models
Ricci C., et al. 2013
Materials and Methods
Results: Histological Behaviour
Results: ImmunoPhenotyping
Positive Staining
(A) CK8/18
(B) CK7
(C) CK19
(D) Ca19.9
(E) EGFR
(F) CEA
Negative staining
(G) Vimentin
(H) Chromogranin
Vascular Aspects
(I)Hypovascular Areas
(CD31)
(J) and hypoxic Areas
(CA IX)
CK 7 EGFR
Results: Pharmacology
31/07/2014 11
Surgical Resection
Ricci C., et al. 2013
Cancer Tissue Engineering: 3D Models
Our orthotopic PDAC models displayed genetic,
histopathologic, and metastatic features similar to their
human tumors of origin. Moreover, their use pointed to c-
Met as a candidate therapeutic target in PDAC and
highlighted crizotinib and gemcitabine as a synergistic
combination of drugs warranting clinical evaluation for
PDAC treatment.
Conclusions
Niccola Funel1,2
Elisa Giovannetti3
Tonny Lagerweij4
Amir Avan3
Daniela Campani2
Dieter Fuchs5
Henk M. Verheul3
Gerrit-Jan Schuurhuis4
Godefridus J. Peters3
Thomas Wurdinger4
Ugo Boggi1
1Division of General and Transplant Surgery 2Division of Surgical Pathology, University of Pisa
Departments of 3Medical Oncology, and 4Neurosurgery & Pediatric
Oncology/Hematology, VU University Medical Center; 5VisualSonics, Amsterdam,
the Netherlands;
Thanks
UP TO DATE
2014
Start-Up AIRC 2014
P.I Dr Elisa Giovannetti
Dr. Niccola Funel
Con questa iniziativa nel
campo del trasferimento
tecnologico, contiamo
inoltre di identificare
delle buone idee, che
potranno poi essere
accompagnate in un
percorso di
brevettazione, così come
di creazione di start-up
innovative in un settore
che dimostra ampi spazi
di sviluppo e di crescita”.
5 Years 2014-2018
€ 750.000,00