Lymphoma Genomics Lab
Group Leader : Bertoni Francesco, MD
Research areas of our group are the development of new drugs against lymphoma and lymphoma genomics. Accordingly, we apply genomics techniques followed by bioinformatic and functional studies to elucidate the lesions underlying lymphomas and to identify new genes and new potential therapeutic targets. Since the ultimate goal of our research is the improvement of patients outcome, to obtain new and active anti-lymphoma drugs we work in strict collaboration with academic groups and with pharmaceuticals companies. The strict connection with the Oncology Institute of Southern Switzerland (IOSI) running clinical trials dedicated to lymphoma patients and with Swiss Group for Clinical Cancer Research (SAKK) allows the development of new drugs from pre-clinical to clinical settings.
Members
Arribas Alberto, Senior Investigator, Bioinformatician
Banti Matteo, PhD Student
Bertoni Francesco, Deputy Director and Group leader
Cannas Eleonora, Research Assistant
Carpio Alvarez Maidel, Visiting Research Fellow
Cascione Luciano, Senior Investigator, Bioinformatician
Civanelli Elisa, Lab Technician
Guidetti Francesca, PhD Student
Mensah Afua Adjeiwaa, Senior Investigator
Michel Sara, Bioinformatician
Munz Nicolas, PhD Student
Napoli Sara, Senior Investigator
Pesenti Emma, Master Student
Sartori Giulio, PostDoc
Scalise Camilla, Master Student
Spriano Filippo, PostDoc
Tarantelli Chiara, Senior Investigator
Vari Giulia, PhD Student
Zadro Alex, PhD Student
Zhang Fangwen, PhD Student
Current projects
- Mechanism of resistance to anti-lymphoma agents.
- Non-coding RNAs in B-cell lymphoma.
- Chemosensors (a.k.a. olfactory receptors) in lymphomas.
- Development of new anti-lymphoma compounds and identification of biomarkers.
- Extranodal marginal zone lymphomas.
- Genetic and pharmacological screenings.
- Lymphoma 3D cell cultures.
Relevant Publications
- Spriano F^, Sartori G, Sgrignani J, Barnabei L, Arribas AJ, Guala M, Carrasco Del Amor AM, Tomasso MR, Tarantelli C, Cascione L, Golino G, Riveiro ME, Bortolozzi R, Lupia A, Paduano F, Huguet S, Rezai K, Rinaldi A, Margheriti F, Ventura P, Guarda G, Costa G, Rocca R, Furlan A, Verdonk LM, Innocenti P, Martin NI, Viola G, Driessen C, Zucca E, Stathis A, Gahtory D, van den Nieuwboer M, Bornhauser B, Alcaro S, Trapasso F, Cristobal S, Padrick SB, Pazzi N, Cavalli F, Cavalli A, Eugenio Gaudio E^*, Bertoni F*. A first-in-class Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein activator with anti-tumor activity in hematologic cancers. Haematologica 2024: in press. (^, equally contributed; *, co- corresponding authors).
- Tarantelli C*^, Wald D^, Munz N, Spriano F, Bruscaggin A, Cannas E, Cascione L, Gaudio E, J. Arribas AJ, Manjappa S, Golino G, Scalise L, Cacciapuoti MT, Zucca E, Stathis A, Inghirami G, van Berkel PH, Rossi D, Caimi PF, Zammarchi F, Bertoni F* Targeting CD19-positive lymphomas with the antibody-drug conjugate loncastuximab tesirine:preclinical evidence as single agent and in combination therapy. Haematologica 2024: doi: 10.3324/haematol.2023.284197. Online ahead of print (^, equally contributed; *, co- corresponding authors).
- Arribas AJ^, Sara Napoli S^, Cascione L, Bernabei L, Sartori G, Cannas E, Gaudio E, Tarantelli C, Mensah AA, Spriano F, Zucchetto A, Rossi FM, Rinaldi A, Castro de Moura M, Jovic S, Bordone Pittau R, Stathis A, Stussi G, Gattei V, Brown JR, Esteller M, Zucca E, Rossi D, Bertoni F. ERBB4-mediated signaling is a mediator of resistance to PI3K and BTK inhibitors in B cell lymphoid neoplasms. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 2024 Mar 4;23(3):368-380. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-23-0068. Online ahead of print. (^, equally contributed).
- Sartori G^, Tarantelli T^, Spriano F, Gaudio E, Cascione L, Mascia M, Barreca M, Arribas AJ, Licenziato L, Golino G, Ferragamo A, Pileri S, Damia G, Zucca E, Stathis A, Politz O, Wengner AM, Bertoni F. The ATR inhibitor elimusertib exhibits anti-lymphoma activity and synergizes with the PI3K inhibitor copanlisib. British Journal of Haematology 2024 Jan;204(1):191-205. (^, equally contributed).
- Chung EYL^, Sartori G^, Ponzoni M, Cascione L, Priebe V, Zijun Y. Xu-Monette ZY, Fang X, Zhang M, Visco C, Tzankov A, Rinaldi A, Sgrignani J, Zucca E, Rossi D, Cavalli A, Inghirami G, David W. Scott DW, Ken H. Young KH, Bertoni F. ETS1 phosphorylation at threonine 38 is associated with the cell of origin of diffuse large B cell lymphoma and sustains the growth of tumor cells. British Journal of Haematology 2023 Oct;203(2):244-254. doi: 10.1111/bjh.19018. (^, equally contributed).
- Johnson Z^, Tarantelli C^, Civanelli E, Cascione L, Spriano F, Fraser A, Shah P, Nomanbhoy T, Napoli S, Rinaldi A, Niewola-Staszkowska K, Lahn M, Perrin D, Wenes M, Migliorini D, Bertoni F*, van der Veen L*, Di Conza G*. IOA-244 is a non-ATP-competitive, highly selective, tolerable phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta inhibitor that directly targets solid tumors and breaks immune tolerance. Cancer Research Communications 2023 Apr 14;3(4):576-591. doi: 10.1158/2767-9764.CRC-22-0477. (^, equally contributed; *, co-corresponding authors).
- Arribas AJ^*, Napoli S^, Cascione L, Sartori G, Barnabei L, Gaudio E , Tarantelli C, Mensah AA, Spriano F, Zucchetto A, Rossi FM, Rinaldi A, de Moura MC, Jovic S, Bordone Pittau R, Di Veroli A, Stathis A, Cruciani G, Stussi G, Gattei V, Brown JR, Esteller M, Zucca E, Rossi D, Bertoni F*. Resistance to PI3Kd inhibitors in marginal zone lymphoma can be reverted by targeting the IL-6/PDGFRA axis. Haematologica 2022 Nov 1;107(11):2685-2697. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2021.279957. (^, equally contributed; *, co- corresponding authors).
- Giannuzzi D, Marconato L, Fanelli A, Licenziato L, De Maria R, Rinaldi A, Rotta L, Rouquet N, Birolo G, Fariselli P, Mensah AA, Bertoni F*, Aresu L*. The genomic landscape of canine diffuse large B-cell lymphoma identifies distinct subtypes with clinical and therapeutic implications. Lab Animal (NY). 2022 Jul;51(7):191-202. (.*, co-corresponding authors).
Napoli S, Cascione L, Rinaldi A, Spriano F, Guidetti F, Zhang F, Cacciaputi MT, Mensah AA, Sartori G, Munz N, Forcato M, Bicciato S, Chiappella A, Ghione P, Elemento O, Cerchietti L, Inghirami G, Bertoni F. Characterization of GECPAR, a noncoding RNA that regulates the transcriptional program of diffuse large B cell lymphoma. Haematologica 2022 May 1;107(5):1131-1143.
- Sartori G, Napoli S, Cascione L, Chung EYL, Priebe V, Arribas AJ, Mensah AA, Dall’Angelo M, Falzarano C, Barnabei L, Forcato M, Rinaldi A, Bicciato S, Thome M, Bertoni F. ASB2 is a direct target of FLI1 that sustains NF-kB pathway activation in germinal center-derived diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. J. Exp. Clin. Cancer Res. (2021) in press.
- Mensah AA, Spriano F, Sartori G, Priebe V, Cascione L, Gaudio E, Tarantelli C, Civanelli E, Aresu L, Rinaldi A, Damia G, Lovati E, Zucca E, Stathis A, Pietra C and Bertoni F. Study of the antilymphoma activity of pracinostat reveals different sensitivities of DLBCL cells to HDAC inhibitors. Blood Adv(2021) 5, 2467-2480.
- Spriano F, Gaudio E, Cascione L, Tarantelli C, Melle F, Motta G, Priebe V, Rinaldi A, Golino G, Mensah AA, Aresu L, Zucca E, Pileri S, Witcher M, Brown B, Wahlestedt C, Giles F, Stathis A and Bertoni F. Antitumor activity of the dual BET and CBP/EP300 inhibitor NEO2734. Blood Adv (2020) 4, 4124-4135.
- Tarantelli C, Lange M, Gaudio E, Cascione L, Spriano F, Kwee I, Arribas AJ, Rinaldi A, Jourdan T, Berthold M, Sturz A, Sperl C, Margheriti F, Scalise L, Gritti G, Rossi D, Stathis A, Liu N, Zucca E, Politz O and Bertoni F. Copanlisib synergizes with conventional and targeted agents including venetoclax in B- and T-cell lymphoma models. Blood Adv (2020) 4, 819-829.
- Spriano F, Chung EYL, Gaudio E, Tarantelli C, Cascione L, Napoli S, Jessen K, Carrassa L, Priebe V, Sartori G, Graham G, Selvanathan SP, Cavalli A, Rinaldi A, Kwee I, Testoni M, Genini D, Ye BH, Zucca E, Stathis A, Lannutti B, Toretsky JA and Bertoni F. The ETS Inhibitors YK-4-279 and TK-216 Are Novel Antilymphoma Agents. Clin Cancer Res (2019) 25, 5167-5176.
- Tarantelli C, Gaudio E, Arribas AJ, Kwee I, Hillmann P, Rinaldi A, Cascione L, Spriano F, Bernasconi E, Guidetti F, Carrassa L, Pittau RB, Beaufils F, Ritschard R, Rageot D, Sele A, Dossena B, Rossi FM, Zucchetto A, Taborelli M, Gattei V, Rossi D, Stathis A, Stussi G, Broggini M, Wymann MP, Wicki A, Zucca E, Cmiljanovic V, Fabbro D and Bertoni F. PQR309 Is a Novel Dual PI3K/mTOR Inhibitor with Preclinical Antitumor Activity in Lymphomas as a Single Agent and in Combination Therapy. Clin Cancer Res (2018) 24, 120-129.
- Arribas AJ, Rinaldi A, Mensah AA, Kwee I, Cascione L, Robles EF, Martinez-Climent JA, Oscier D, Arcaini L, Baldini L, Marasca R, Thieblemont C, Briere J, Forconi F, Zamo A, Bonifacio M, Mollejo M, Facchetti F, Dirnhofer S, Ponzoni M, Bhagat G, Piris MA, Gaidano G, Zucca E, Rossi D and Bertoni F. DNA methylation profiling identifies two splenic marginal zone lymphoma subgroups with different clinical and genetic features. Blood (2015) 125, 1922-1931.
- Boi M, Gaudio E, Bonetti P, Kwee I, Bernasconi E, Tarantelli C, Rinaldi A, Testoni M, Cascione L, Ponzoni M, Mensah AA, Stathis A, Stussi G, Riveiro ME, Herait P, Inghirami G, Cvitkovic E, Zucca E and Bertoni F. The BET Bromodomain Inhibitor OTX015 Affects Pathogenetic Pathways in Preclinical B-cell Tumor Models and Synergizes with Targeted Drugs. Clin Cancer Res (2015) 21, 1628-1638.
- Bonetti P, Testoni M, Scandurra M, Ponzoni M, Piva R, Mensah AA, Rinaldi A, Kwee I, Tibiletti MG, Iqbal J, Greiner TC, Chan WC, Gaidano G, Piris MA, Cavalli F, Zucca E, Inghirami G and Bertoni F. Deregulation of ETS1 and FLI1 contributes to the pathogenesis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Blood(2013) 122, 2233-2241.
- Rinaldi A, Mian M, Chigrinova E, Arcaini L, Bhagat G, Novak U, Rancoita PM, De Campos CP, Forconi F, Gascoyne RD, Facchetti F, Ponzoni M, Govi S, Ferreri AJ, Mollejo M, Piris MA, Baldini L, Soulier J, Thieblemont C, Canzonieri V, Gattei V, Marasca R, Franceschetti S, Gaidano G, Tucci A, Uccella S, Tibiletti MG, Dirnhofer S, Tripodo C, Doglioni C, Dalla Favera R, Cavalli F, Zucca E, Kwee I and Bertoni F. Genome-wide DNA profiling of marginal zone lymphomas identifies subtype-specific lesions with an impact on the clinical outcome. Blood (2011) 117, 1595-1604.
