Where research becomes treatment in real time

The most recent estimate of microbes populating the human body is around 40 trillion, meaning that we are made of bacteria at least as much of human cells and they coexist on our body as result of a dynamic equilibrium between Darwinian competition and cooperation. There is a growing appreciation of the role of the microbiome in cancer-related outcomes and our recent work demonstrated that differential bacterial “signatures” exist in the gut of melanoma patients that responded (R) or not (NR) to immunotherapy. Building on the synergy between scientists from different backgrounds to bridge the chasm between the bench and the clinic, our lab is seeking for innovative strategies to improve cancer prevention and response to immunotherapy by manipulating the human microbiome. We are interested in molecular mechanisms that regulate the crosstalk between innate and adaptive immune system in response to modulation of the microbiome, in particular in the gut.
We are performing multiOMIC analysis and developing new ex vivo and in vivo systems to create:

• diagnostic tools, that could by reveal high-risk subjects or potential R and NR patients, and guide subsequent prophylactic treatments or immune-based therapeutic choices;
• personalized interventions, by combining biotic and abiotic formulations to promote cancer prevention or turn an NR in an R.

More detailed description of the research projects

MOC: Microbiome On Chip 
MIO:   Microbiome Immune Oncology 
MicrobiOMIC: MultiOMIC analysis of immune responses associated with gut microbiome manipulation 
MiTICO: Microbiome Tumor Interaction in Colorectal Oncology

People working in the group

Postdoc
Francesca Borgo - Microbiologist

PhD students
Mattia Ballerini - Bioengineer (PoliMI)
Angeli Macandog - Computational biologist (PhD student - SEMM)

Undergraduate Student 
Domenico Camarda - (UniMI)

• Gut microbiome modulates response to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy in melanoma patients. Gopalakrishnan V*, Spencer CN*, Nezi L*, Reuben A, Andrews MC, Karpinets TV, Prieto PA, Vicente D, Hoffman K, Wei SC, Cogdill AP, Zhao L, Hudgens CW, Hutchinson DS, Manzo T, Petaccia de Macedo M, Cotechini T, Kumar T, Chen WS, Reddy SM, Szczepaniak Sloane R, Galloway-Pena J, Jiang H, Chen PL, Shpall EJ, Rezvani K, Alousi AM, Chemaly RF, Shelburne S, Vence LM, Okhuysen PC, Jensen VB, Swennes AG, McAllister F, Marcelo Riquelme Sanchez E, Zhang Y, Le Chatelier E, Zitvogel L, Pons N, Austin-Breneman JL, Haydu LE, Burton EM, Gardner JM, Sirmans E, Hu J, Lazar AJ, Tsujikawa T, Diab A, Tawbi H, Glitza IC, Hwu WJ, Patel SP, Woodman SE, Amaria RN, Davies MA, Gershenwald JE, Hwu P, Lee JE, Zhang J, Coussens LM, Cooper ZA, Futreal PA, Daniel CR, Ajami NJ, Petrosino JF, Tetzlaff MT, Sharma P, Allison JP, Jenq RR, Wargo JA.
  Science. 2018 Jan 5;359(6371):97-103. doi: 10.1126/science.aan4236. Epub 2017 Nov 2.
• In Vivo Functional Platform Targeting Patient-Derived Xenografts Identifies WDR5-Myc Association as a Critical Determinant of Pancreatic Cancer. Carugo A, Genovese G, Seth S, Nezi L, Rose JL, Bossi D, Cicalese A, Shah PK, Viale A, Pettazzoni PF, Akdemir KC, Bristow CA, Robinson FS, Tepper J, Sanchez N, Gupta S, Estecio MR, Giuliani V, Dellino GI, Riva L, Yao W, Di Francesco ME, Green T, D'Alesio C, Corti D, Kang Y, Jones P, Wang H, Fleming JB, Maitra A, Pelicci PG, Chin L, DePinho RA, Lanfrancone L, Heffernan TP, Draetta GF.
  Cell Rep. 2016 Jun 28;16(1):133-147. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2016.05.063. Epub 2016 Jun 16.
• DNA breaks and chromosome pulverization from errors in mitosis. Crasta K, Ganem NJ, Dagher R, Lantermann AB, Ivanova EV, Pan Y, Nezi L, Protopopov A, Chowdhury D, Pellman D.
  Nature. 2012 Jan 18;482(7383):53-8. doi: 10.1038/nature10802.