University of Torino
The University of Torino, Dept of Neuroscience ( sect. Physiology), participates to the CHIC project in partnership cooperating with the Institute of Research and Treatment of Cancer (IRCCS) at Candiolo, nearby Torino (Unit of Radio-oncology).
The team will focus on the prostate cancer modeling paradigm. The evolution of prostate cancer after surgical and / or radiant therapies will be investigated on macroscopic and microscopic scales, according to various ‘scenarios’ corresponding to the range of values of the main clinical parameters (PSA dosage, Gleason score grading, etc) which are usually considered in the clinical nomograms.
In the first stage of our research (retrospective study) the model will be validated on clinical data made available from several clinical teams operating in Piemonte and Valle d’Aosta Italian regions. In the following part of the research (prospective study) , within each ‘scenario’, we will try to differentiate crucial biological processes like apoptosis, cellular adhesion, neo-angiogenesis, cell-cycle control, molecular switch to host invasion and metastatic potential ( as assessed on surgical specimen with proper histological test) , and to correlate the above parameters with clinical data and disease-free survival.
The final goal of the team is to challenge the mathematical prognostic model on prostate cancer with proper simulations of various current medical therapies (mainly radio and chemo-hormono-therapy ) in order to optimize their dosage and timing to maximally improve their effectiveness.