Pancreatic cancer has limited treatment options due to the drug-resistant nature of this tumor. However, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still largely unknown and the identification of new factors contributing to the pancreatic cancer chemoresistance is urgently warranted.

To consolidate existing networks of pancreatic cancer research, as well as to set up new partnerships and collaborations between high-level pancreatic cancer research institutions, the European multi-stakeholder platform Pancreatic Cancer Europe has recently promoted a Short Stay Scientific Award (S3A) to support young investigators exchange between European laboratories.

This year this S3A grant has been awarded to Mjriam Capula, researcher at Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and Fondazione Pisana per la Ricerca (FPS), in order perform a research internship at the CCA on the role of microbiome in pancreatic cancer chemoresistance.
Tumor microbiome has been recently recognized among the hallmarks of cancer, and tumor-associated microbiota has recently emerged for its potential role in mediating resistance to several anti-cancer agents, including drugs commonly used for pancreatic cancer treatment.
Expression of the long-variant of the enzyme cytidine deaminase by several intratumor bacteria was shown to be responsible for the resistance to the commonly used anticancer drug gemcitabine. Beside this, other bacteria can affects drug activity via autophagy modulation, suggesting that chemoresistance conferred by bacteria might be induced by multiple mechanisms. To date these mechanisms have been studied in a limited number of preclinical models and the knowledge of specific factors responsible for this phenomenon in pancreatic cancer is still limited. Thus, the purpose of this study is to characterize the ability of selected bacterial species to induce chemoresistance in new models of pancreatic cancer and to identify the molecular mechanisms underlying these effects.

This research is supervised by Prof. Luca Morelli at the University of Pisa, while Prof. Elisa Giovannetti and Prof. Geert Kazemier are leading studies on microbiome in pancreatic cancer at FPS and Cancer Center Amsterdam. This project is also a collaborative project with Dr. Dongmei Deng from ACTA.

“My experience in Amsterdam gave me a greater understanding of different work perspectives, and has taught me that multidisciplinary teamwork and collaborations with institutions of excellence are essential to improve our knowledge of cancer biology and hopefully enable rapid translation of new discoveries into better therapeutic interventions for cancer patients.” – Dr. Mjriam Capula.

More info here: https://youtu.be/BEz_3lLYgcM