The Cancer Stem Cell Unit is dedicated to studying malignancies of the central nervous system, colon, breast, lung, pancreas, and skin. Its primary focus lies in identifying, isolating, expanding, and characterizing cancer stem cells (CSCs), circulating tumor cells (CTCs), and metastatic circulating tumor cells (mCTCs). The Unit’s core activities center on the functional and molecular analysis of post-operative tissues from patients with these cancers and on cell lines derived from CSCs and CTCs.
The development of hierarchical models for gene and protein profiles, early carcinogenesis processes, and the differences between original tumor tissues and their corresponding isolated CSCs and CTCs aims to:
- Uncover the biological mechanisms driving the aggressive nature of these diseases, particularly recurrence and metastasis, even after pharmacological treatments.
- Identify genes potentially responsible for varying sensitivities to conventional therapies.
- Create optimized systems for enriching cancer stem cells to facilitate their manipulation and in-depth characterization.
- Discover novel effectors specific to these cells that could serve as innovative therapeutic targets, as well as diagnostic and/or prognostic biomarkers.
- Develop personalized therapeutic strategies incorporating traditional pharmacological agents and cutting-edge biopharmaceuticals specifically targeting CSCs.
The Unit is currently engaged in the following activities:
- Isolating, expanding, and enriching CSCs, CTCs, and mCSCs from the identified malignancies, along with in vitro functional characterization.
- Evaluating the tumorigenic and stemness indices of CSCs, CTCs, and mCSCs in vivo using orthotopic murine models.
- Analyzing gene and molecular expression to identify, validate, and functionally characterize novel genes, pathways, and proteins critical to CSC, CTC, and mCTC biology.
- Conducting studies in drug design, model development, and targeted drug delivery.
