Universitą degli studi di Pavia

Since 1990, the activities of our research group is directed to basic research and translational neuro-oncology, in particular is devoted to the study of gliomas and their response to drugs and/or radiation. Our group is characterized by a multidisciplinary approach that integrates expertise in biology, physics and medicine, thus promoting synergy and collaboration among the participants. Have already been obtained meaningful data for: 1.The study of new markers of tumor cell proliferation in glial; 2. balancing proliferation and apoptosis; 3. immunogenic response (calreticulin, Hsp70, HMGB1) in cultured cells of malignant gliomas after exposure to ionizing radiation 4. the immunobiology and immunotherapy by evaluating the serum levels of cytokines and adhesion molecules (ICAM-I) in patients with these diseases; 5. bystander effect induced by gamma radiation in different lines of human glioblastoma evaluating the release of inflammatory cytokines (IL -8, IL-6, ...) and their receptors.
A line of current research concerns the cytotoxic effect and the mechanism of uptake of magnetic nanoparticles phagocyted by cells of astrocytic tumors in order to develop new combination therapies for the treatment of patients with malignant astrocytic tumors.
Another innovative research concerns the evaluation of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of glioma tumor cells and cancer stem cells after irradiation with radiation at high LET (linear energy transfer) in a particular way that carbon ions offer the advantage of causing much damage difficult to repair DNA.
The work is done in collaboration with prestigious Italian and foreign laboratories.