18 October 2022. Pier-Luigi Lollini, Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastasis, University of Bologna, Italy
Vaccines for the prevention and therapy of mammary carcinomas.
On Tuesday the 18th October 2022 at 5.00 pm, Pier-Luigi Lollini of the Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastasis at the University of Bologna will give a seminar entitled Vaccines for the prevention and therapy of mammary carcinomas. The poster of the seminar is available here.
All College students are invited to attend, especially students reading Medicine, Biological Sciences and Biotechnology
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Abstract
The immune system effectively prevents tumor onset, and immunodeficiencies predispose to cancer. Unfortunately, a functional immune system is not 100% efficient in preventing either infections or tumors. However, the correlation between immune suppression and excessive cancer risk suggests that immune stimulation could prevent tumor onset, or at least reduce the risk. In humans, cancer immunoprevention is already operative at the population level, in the form of vaccines against oncogenic viruses. The hepatitis B vaccine reduces by two-thirds the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, and papilloma virus (HPV) vaccines prevent the development of cervical carcinoma. Widespread adoption of the HPV vaccine could lead, for the first time in human history, to the disappearance of a deadly cancer, just as vaccination eradicated smallpox in the past. Is immunoprevention also applicable to the vast majority (>80%) of human tumors, not related to oncogenic viruses? Preclinical studies performed in my Laboratory, and in many others throughout the world, demonstrated that immunological stimuli do indeed prevent tumor onset. Studies in HER-2 transgenic mice, which are prone to mammary carcinogenesis, showed that vaccination of young, healthy mice with cells or DNA encoding HER-2, coupled with potent biological adjuvants, could completely prevent tumor onset later in life. Immunity from mammary carcinoma was regulated by T cell cytokines and effected by anti-HER-2 antibodies. The fact that HER-2 is an oncoantigen, i.e. an antigenic molecule causally involved in carcinogenesis, was a key element in determining long-term immunoprevention. Clinical development of cancer immunoprevention depends on the discovery of suitable oncoantigens in high-risk individuals, such as HER-2 itself, which is frequently amplified in breast cancers of Li-Fraumeni carriers. MUC-1, a cell surface mucin aberrantly expressed in colorectal carcinoma, is the target of early clinical studies that are paving the way to human cancer immunoprevention.
Biography
Personal data Lollini, Pier-Luigi Born in Bologna, Italy, July 3rd, 1956. Citizenship: Italian.
Address Laboratory of Immunology and Biology of Metastasis Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine Viale Filopanti 22, 40126 Bologna, Italy Phone +39051-209-4786 - Fax: +39051-242-169 E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - Web: www.lollini.it
Present position Professor of General Pathology, University of Bologna, Italy.
Education and Training 1980 - MSc in Biology, University of Bologna, Italy., 1987 - Ph.D. in Oncology (experimental), University of Bologna, Italy.
Positions 1980-88 - Postdoctoral fellow, Istituto of Cancer Research (University of Bologna, Italy). Fellowships from Italian Ministry for Education, "Anna Villa Rusconi" Foundation, Istituto Oncologico Romagnolo, Italy.
1988-92 - Research Assistant, Biotechnology Satellite Unit of Bologna, National Cancer Institute, Genova, Italy.
1992-2001 - Associate Professor of Oncology, University of Bologna, Italy.
2001-present - Full Professor of General Pathology, University of Bologna, Italy
Appointments 1998-2000 - Director, Institute of Cancer Research, University of Bologna, Italy.
1998-2003 - Member of the Grants Committee for Medical Sciences, University of Bologna. 1999-2004 - Deputy-Director, Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research, University of Bologna, Italy.
2001-2003 and 2006-2015 - Member of the Technical-Scientific Committee, Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC), the major Italian charity for cancer research. 2001-2005 - Board of Directors, Italian Society of Cancerology.
2004-2007 - Director, Interdepartmental Center for Cancer Research, University of Bologna, Italy.
2009-2020 – Member of the Emilia Romagna Regional Committee, Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC).
2014-2020 - Director, Ph.D. Program in Oncology, Hematology and Pathology, University of Bologna.
2016-2019 - Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Italian Association for Cancer Research (AIRC).
2016-present – Member of the European Academy of Tumor Immunology (EATI).
