Gruppo Luconi
Coordinator:
Prof. Michaela Luconi, MSc, PhD
About Michaela Luconi
Full Professor in Scienze Tecniche Mediche Applicate
Email: michaela.luconi@unifi.it
Orcid: 0000-0001-5186-064X
Michaela Luconi is Full Professor of Applied Medical Sciences at the University of Florence (from 2020). She graduated in Biology (MSc, 1993, summa cum laude with merit) and obtained the PhD in Endocrinology & Metabolism (1999) at the University of Florence. She started her research in the field of the pathophysiology of male reproduction, contributing to the knowledge of the cellular/molecular mechanisms underlying male pathologies leading to infertility. Since Professorship (Associate in 2005, Full Professor in 2020) she has mainly been focusing on metabolic pathologies contributing to elucidate the cell basis of metabolic dysfunctions, by developing human cell and tissue models of the adipose organs to study the biology of the adipose stem cell in physiology and metabolic disorders. In the cancer field, she is interested in the study of the biology of endocrine tumors, in particular in adrenocortical carcinoma, and of tumor microenvironment’s role in modulating cancer progression and response to therapies. Her group developed in vitro cell and in vivo animal translational models and analysis of biopsies and fluids of adrenocortical cancer patients to characterize new diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic strategies. Translational application of the “liquid biopsy” is among her main interest in the field of adrenocortical cancer.
158 Papers in international journals; 21 Book Chapters; 2 patents - IF=780
H-index: 48 Scopus - 56 Google Scholar ; Citations: 6233 Scopus - 8481 Google Scholar
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=7003464354
https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=it&user=3Hq9_pUAAAAJ
Other Affiliations
Center of Excellence of European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors (ENS@T)
Centro di Ricerca e Innovazione sulle Patologie Surrenaliche (CRI-PS), AOU Careggi
Istituto Nazionale Biostrutture e Biosistemi (I.N.B.B.)
Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca per la Valorizzazione degli Alimenti (CeRA ), University of Florence
Commission of Trust & Institutional responsibilities
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2021-
2021- 2021- 2020- 2019- 2019- 2019- 2016- 2010- |
Management Committee Cost Action CA20122 - Harmonizing clinical care and research on adrenal tumours in European countries – Harmonisation Board Center of Excellence European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors ENS@T Board Centro Ricerca Innovazione Patologie Surrenaliche (CRI-PS) AOU Careggi Executive Committee of the Italian Collegium of Applied Medicine SSD MED/50 H2020 – Expert group JRC / Joint Research Center for Metabolic diseases Executive Commission European Network for the Study of Adrenal Tumors ENS@T Biobank Program Centro Ricerca Innovazione Tissue Establishment (CRI-TE) AOU Careggi Referent of the ERASMUS plus Program, MSc in Medical & Pharmaceutical Biotechnologies Marie Sklodowska Curie Life Science panel REA (FP7, Horizon2020, HorizonEurope) |
Member of Scientific Societies
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2018- 2017- 2016- 2013- 2009- 2008- 2012- 2005- 2018- |
Società Italiana di Ricerca Traslazionale e Professioni Sanitarie (SIRTEPS) European Reference Network on Rare Endocrine Condition ENDO-ERN Società Italiana Diabete (SID) European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) European Network for the Study on Adrenal Tumors (ENSAT) Società Italiana Obesità (SIO) Società Italiana di Endocrinologia (SIE) Club SIE: Adrenal; Endo-metabolic rare diseases; EndoOnco Oncologic-Endocrinology |
Member of editorial board
RESEARCH TEAM
GIULIA CANTINI, MSc, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: giulia.cantini@unifi.it
Orcid: 0000-0002-9159-9199
Giulia is a cell biologist graduated in Biological Sciences (2006 with full marks) at the University of Florence working on insulin receptor activity in cancer. She started her research in the field of the pathophysiology of metabolic diseases in Prof. Luconi’s lab, obtaining the PhD in Endocrinology & Metabolism (2012), investigating the role of the adipose stem cell in the development of metabolic pathologies. In addition to her interest in the biology of the adipose organ, she is also dedicated to the study of the rare endocrine tumor adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC), significantly contributing to elucidating the role of PPARgamma receptor and fascin-1 in ACC development/progression and identifying novel translational biomarkers in this cancer. She is currently investigating the role of the adipose microenvironment in supporting endocrine tumors in Prof. Luconi’s lab.
Scopus: H-index=17; Citations=1003; Google Scholar: H-index=22; Citations=1601
39 papers in international journals, 1 book chapter, IF:194.8
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=24072787100
LAURA FEI, MSc
PhD student in Biomedical Sciences
Email: laura.fei@unifi.it
Laura graduated in Medical & Pharmaceutical Biotechnology (2020 summa cum laude with merit) at the University of Florence working in Prof. Luconi’s lab on the characterization of carbonic anhydrase in the crosstalk between adipose microenvironment and adrenocortical cancer. She remained at Prof. Luconi’s lab after winning a 3 year ministerial fellowship for a “green” PhD in Biomedical Sciences, expanding her interest in adipose-tumor crosstalk to the colorectal cancer to assess the anti-tumor effects of fatty acid/glycerol compound adsorbed to bio-chart in in vitro cell system of coculture s between adipose stem cells and colon cancer cell lines (Regione Salute funded project MAGIC).
2 papers in international journals
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=57225172813
LETIZIA CANU, MD, PhD
Clinical Researcher
Email: letizia.canu@unifi.it
Orcid: 0000-0003-4995-8108
Letizia is an Endocrinologist at AOU Careggi performing clinical research activity in endocrinology. She graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 2009 at the University of Florence, specializated in Endocrinology in 2016, and got the PhD in Endocrinology & Metabolism in 2019. Since 2009, she has been working in the clinical aspects of endocrine tumors, with particular focus on adrenocortical carcinoma and adrenal pathologies. In the field of cancer research, she is interested and contributed to elucidate the clinical and biological characteristics of progression of adrenocortical carcinoma, and to discover new diagnostic/prognostic biomarkers.
Scopus: H-index =18; Citations=1057- 57 papers in international journals, 3 book chapters, IF:280.9
https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6505816933
CURRENT RESEARC INTERESTS OF THE LAB
Main interests
- The biology of the adrenal tumors: cell and clinical models for the development of novel cancer biomarkers and target personalized medicine
- Models of metabolic interaction between tumors and tumor microenvironment (ACC, CRC)
- The liquid biopsy and circulating tumor cells as diagnostic/prognostic and monitoring factors in endocrine tumors
- Pathophysiology of the adipose organ and of the metabolic disorders
- Stem cells in the adipose lineage: white, brown and brite fat
- Cell and tissue in vitro human models of adipose system (subcutaneous, visceral, brown fat)
- Pharmacological and cellular mechanisms of anti-diabetic drugs (GLP-1 analogues, rosiglitazone, SGLT inhibitors, metformin) in metabolic pathologies and cancer
Main ongoing Projects
Adipose tissue pathophysiology and obesity
Our research is focused on elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanism acting at the level of the adipose tissue depots that are involved in the development and progression of metabolic pathologies, in particular obesity. We demonstrated that the alteration in the adipose tissue functions characterizing obesity and dyslipidemia are early present in the adipose stem cell, which differ according to the type of depot (subcutaneous, visceral, white and brown) and on the metabolic pathology. We developed in vitro adipose stem cell models from healthy, obese and diabetic subjects to study the different response to pharmacological treatments and have a large repository of tissue specimens and blood from subjects with metabolic pathologies. In particular, we are studying the process of brown conversion of the adipose cell lineage as a novel therapeutic approach to obesity and diabetes.
Adrenocortical carcinoma: cell basis and prognostic/diagnostic biomarkers
Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare and aggressive endocrine cancer, characterized by poor prognosis in particular when metastatic at diagnosis, and limited efficacious therapies. Our research contributed significantly to elucidate the molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in conditioning the aggressiveness and invasiveness of ACC, characterizing new specific biomarkers (Fascin-1, circulating tumor cells, CXCL12/CXCR4) of diagnosis and prognosis, also representing potential targets for old (mitotane) and new therapies (metformin, PPARgamma ligands). We developed a local repository of biomaterial and clinical data of these rare patients (part of the ENS@T Registry) as well as in vitro cell and 3D human ACC models also developing mouse xenografts.
Adipose conditioning of the cancer microenvironment
Adipose tissue is a plastic endocrine organ that can condition systemically but also locally the development and progression of different cancers. We are investigating the relevance of the crosstalk occurring between the adipose cell lineage and the tumor cells, conditioning the tumor microenvironment for supporting cancer progression and how this crosstalk at the level of tumor microenvironment may represent a novel target for anti-cancer therapies in ACC and in colorectal cancer. In particular, MAGIC project (Regione Salute 2018) aims at characterizing the effects of acylglycerol mixtures adsorbed on biochart carrier particles can affect CRC and its interaction with the adipose microenvironment.
KEY WORDS
ERC sectors
- LS3 Cellular, Developmental and Regenerative Biology
LS3_3 Cell behavior, including control of cell shape, cell migration
LS3_5 Cell signaling and signal transduction, exosome biology
LS3_9 Cell differentiation, formation of tissues and organs
LS3_12 Organoids
LS3_13 Stem cells
- LS4 Physiology in Health, Disease and Ageing
LS4_1 Organ and tissue physiology and pathophysiology
LS4_4 Endocrinology
LS4_9 Metabolism and metabolic disorders, including diabetes and obesity
LS4_12 Cancer
- Free Keywords
Adipose organ, adipokines, cell metabolism, cancer microenvironment, adrenal, adrenocortical carcinoma, endocrine cancers, rare cancers, biomarkers, cell differentiation, stem cells, cell biology
Funding in the last 5 years
• 2020 COST ACTION CA20122 “Harmonizing clinical care and research on adrenal tumors in European countries” - HARMONISATION
• 2018- Bando Ricerca Salute 2018- Ministero dell'istruzione, dell'università e della ricerca (MIUR) “EFFECTS OF MONOACYLGLYCEROLS IN COLORECTAL CANCER - MAGIC ”
- 2018-2019 Research Projects of the Dept. of Excellence on Gender Medicine A HUMAN FETAL ADRENAL CELL 3D MODEL AS A NOVEL APPROACH TO STUDY THE IMPACT OF GENETIC ALTERATIONS IN CONGENITAL ADRENAL HYPERPLASIA" - MAGICAH3D"
• 2018-2019 Fondazione Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze: Research Grant 2018-RF-2018.1012: “GLI ACIDI GRASSI A CATENA CORTA (AGCC) COME NUOVO APPROACCIO PREVENTIVO E TERAPEUTICO NUTRACEUTICO PER LA LIPODISTROFIA” “SHORT-CHAIN FATTY ACIDS (SCFA) AS A NOVEL NUTRACEUTIC APPROACH IN THE PREVENTION AND THERAPY OF LIPODYSTOPHY- AGCC-LIPO”
• 2016-2018 #2015ZTT5KB – PRIN-MIUR 2015 “DEFECTIVE TISSUE REPAIR IN METABOLIC DISORDERS: UNTANGLING ITS ROLE AND KEY MECHANISMS FOR NOVEL THERAPEUTIC APPROACHES“
• 2016 AIRC-CRF Multi-user Equipment Program 2016 #19515 “ASSAYING TUMOR METABOLIC DEREGULATION IN LIVE CELLS”
• 2016-2018 AIRC Investigator Grant AIRC 2015-IG2015 #Id17691: "DIFFERENTIAL GENOME PROFILING BETWEEN CIRCULATING AND PRIMARY TUMOR CELLS IN METASTATIC ADRENOCORTICAL CARCINOMA”
10 best publications in the last 5 years
- Cantini G, Fei L, Canu L, Lazzeri E, Sottili M, Francalanci M, Angelotti ML, De Filpo G, Ercolino T, Gelmini S, Mangoni M, Nesi G, Hantel C, Mannelli M, Maggi M, Luconi M*. Stimulated Expression of CXCL12 in Adrenocortical Carcinoma by the PPARgamma Ligand Rosiglitazone Impairs Cancer Progression. J Pers Med 2021;11:1097. doi: 10.3390/jpm11111097
- Cantini G, Fei L, Canu L, De Filpo G, Ercolino T, Nesi G, Mannelli M, Luconi M*. Circulating Fascin 1 as a Promising Prognostic Marker in Adrenocortical Cancer. Front Endocrinol 2021;12:698862. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.698862
- Cantini G, Canu L, Armignacco R, Salvianti F, De Filpo G, Ercolino T, Nesi G, Maggi M, Mannelli M, Pinzani P, Luconi M*. Prognostic and Monitoring Value of Circulating Tumor Cells in Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Preliminary Monocentric Study. Cancers 2020;12:3176. doi: 10.3390/cancers12113176
- Cantini G, Di Franco A, Mannelli M, Scimè A, Maggi M, Luconi M*.The Role of Metabolic Changes in Shaping the Fate of Cancer-Associated Adipose Stem Cells. Front Cell Dev Biol 2020; 8:332. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2020.00332
- Armignacco R, Cantini G, Poli G, Guasti D, Nesi G, Romagnoli P, Mannelli M, Luconi M*.The Adipose Stem Cell as a Novel Metabolic Actor in Adrenocortical Carcinoma Progression: Evidence from an In Vitro Tumor Microenvironment Crosstalk Model. Cancers 2019;11:1931. doi:10.3390/cancers11121931
- Assié G, Jouinot A, Fassnacht M, Libé R, Garinet S, Jacob L, Hamzaoui N, Neou M, Sakat J, de La Villéon B, Perlemoine K, Ragazzon B, Sibony M, Tissier F, Gaujoux S, Dousset B, Sbiera S, Ronchi CL, Kroiss M, Korpershoek E, De Krijger R, Waldmann J, Quinkler M, Haissaguerre M, Tabarin A, Chabre O, Luconi M, Mannelli M, Groussin L, Bertagna X, Baudin E, Amar L, Coste J, Beuschlein F, Bertherat J. Value of Molecular Classification for Prognostic Assessment of Adrenocortical Carcinoma. JAMA Oncol 2019 5:1440-1447. doi: 10.1001/jamaoncol.2019.1558
- Poli G, Ruggiero C, Cantini G, Canu L, Baroni G, Armignacco R, Jouinot A, Santi R, Ercolino T, Ragazzon B, Assie G, Mannelli M, Nesi G, Lalli E, Luconi M*.Fascin-1 Is a Novel Prognostic Biomarker Associated With Tumor Invasiveness in Adrenocortical Carcinoma. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2019;104:1712-1724. doi: 10.1210/jc.2018-01717
- Poli G, Sarchielli E, Guasti D, Benvenuti S, Ballerini L, Mazzanti B, Armignacco R, Cantini G, Lulli M, Chortis V, Arlt W, Romagnoli P, Vannelli GB, Mannelli M, Luconi M*.Human fetal adrenal cells retain age-related stem- and endocrine-differentiation potential in culture. FASEB J 2019; 33:2263-2277. doi: 10.1096/fj.201801028RR
- Di Franco A, Guasti D, Squecco R, Mazzanti B, Rossi F, Idrizaj E, Gallego-Escuredo JM, Villarroya F, Bani D, Forti G, Vannelli GB, Luconi M*. Searching for Classical Brown Fat in Humans: Development of a Novel Human Fetal Brown Stem Cell Model. Stem Cells 2016;34:1679-91. doi: 10.1002/stem.2336.
- Cantini G, Mannucci E, Luconi M*. M. Perspectives in GLP-1 Research: New Targets, New Receptors. Trends Endocrinol Metab 2016;27:427-438. doi: 10.1016/j.tem.2016.03.017.
International and National Scientific Collaborations
Enzo Lalli - Inserm - Sophia Antipolis, Valbonne, France
Constanze Hantel - University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Francesc Villarroya - University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
Leonardo Guasti - Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Guillaume Assie - Cochin Hospital & University of Paris, Paris, France
Peter Igaz - Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
Miguel Angel Sogorb - Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, Elche, Spain
Natalia Pellegata - Helmholtz Zentrum München, Germany
Anthony Scimè - York University, Toronto, Canada
Renewable Energy Consortium for Research and Demonstration (RE-CORD), Scarperia-Firenze
Massimo Terzolo - San Luigi Gonzaga Hospital, University of Turin, Orbassano, Turin
Erika Peverelli - University of Milan, Milan
Sandra Sigala - University of Brescia, Brescia
Sabrina Tait - Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome
Clara Crescioli - Università Foro Italico, Rome
Letizia Pitto - CNR Pisa, Pisa
Andrea Isidori - Università La Sapienza, Rome
Vincenzo Pezzi – Università della Calabria, Arcavacata di Rende, Cosenza
Congress Organization
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2021 2020 2018 |
ENS@T 20th Scientific Symposium, e-Congress-30 Sept-2 Oct, Zurich, CH Scientific Committee 19th ENS@T Scientific eSymposium - 6 Nov, Zurich, CH Local Organizing Committee 17th ENS@T Scientific Meeting-22/23 Nov, Florence, Italy |
MSc Medical & Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, University of Florence
BSc Sanitary Assistance
BSc Sanitary Profession Sciences in Prevention
MSc Sanitary Profession Sciences in Prevention
MSc Sanitary Profession Sciences in Diagnostic Techniques
Medical Postgraduate Course in Endocrinology University of Florence
PhD in Biomedical Sciences University of Florence/Italy
Master in Biology & Technology of Reproduction University of Florence/Italy
Traineeship in the Lab: The lab has an International stimulating atmosphere, due to the presence of students from abroad. It is characterized by a strong interaction between preclinical and clinical research, focusing on translational biomedicine, that is one of the unique aspect of our Dept. In our Lab, undergraduate, PhD and Senior scientists are currently being mentored for traineeship:
- II level-PhD: 9 PhD Students from University of Florence; 2 PhD Student under ERASMUS Program; 2 resident specialization students Endocrinology & Metabolic Pathologies AOUC and 5 Post-doc Students of University of Florence
- I level- more than 30 students (MD, MSc, BSc) graduated in Medicine, Biology and Biotechnology graduated and 2 BSc ERASMUS students since 2005
Ultimo aggiornamento
21.01.2022