Tumori TJ Journal Scientific Report 2014 Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori Comprehensive Cancer Center back to contents 1 CONTENTS FROM THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 THE ESSENTIAL ABOUT INT IN 2014 ............................................................................................................................................................... 9 FACTS AND FIGURES ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 AN INTERNATIONAL NETWORK ..................................................................................................................................................................... 14 INT AND WEB ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16 SCIENTIFIC DIRECTORATE ................................................................................................................................................................................ 18 RESEARCH PROGRAMS MICROENVIRONMENT AND INFLAMMATION ........................................................................................................................................... 27 IMMUNITY ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 29 ORGAN REPLACEMENT & RECONSTRUCTION: LIVER TRANSPLANTATION ....................................................................................... 32 ACTIVE SURVEILLANCE IN PROSTATE CANCER ......................................................................................................................................... 36 EARLY DIAGNOSIS ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 39 NEW DRUGS AND PERSONALIZED MEDICINE ........................................................................................................................................... 43 METASTATIC DISEASE: THE SURGICAL MANAGEMENT .......................................................................................................................... 46 PEDIATRIC TUMORS .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 52 HEMATOLOGICAL MALIGNANCIES, BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT AND NEXT GENERATION SEQUENCING IN HEMATOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................................................................... 55 DIET AND PREVENTION .................................................................................................................................................................................... 57 DEVELOPMENT, PRECLINICAL, AND CLINICAL VALIDATION OF ANTIBODY-BASED REAGENTS FOR DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC USE ................................................................................................................................................ 60 HEREDITARY CANCER AND MEDICAL GENETICS ...................................................................................................................................... 63 BIOSPECIMEN REPOSITORY - BIOBANK ....................................................................................................................................................... 66 PATIENT-DERIVED XENOGRAFTS ................................................................................................................................................................... 68 CLINICAL CANCER REGISTRY .......................................................................................................................................................................... 70 MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS THE MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR HEAD AND NECK CANCER ............................................................................................. 75 MELANOMA MULTIDISCIPLINARY PROGRAM ........................................................................................................................................... 77 A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FOR THYROID PATHOLOGIES AND CANCER .......................................................................... 82 PROSTATE CANCER PROGRAM ...................................................................................................................................................................... 84 MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH IN THORACIC ONCOLOGY ................................................................................................................. 87 DEPARTMENTS AND UNITS SURGERY............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 89 MEDICAL ONCOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................................................105 HEMATOLOGY AND PEDIATRIC ONCO-HEMATOLOGY .......................................................................................................................116 ANESTHESIA, INTENSIVE CARE, PAIN THERAPY, AND PALLIATIVE CARE ........................................................................................124 DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING AND RADIOTHERAPY ........................................................................................................................................128 PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE ............................................................................................................................................135 EXPERIMENTAL ONCOLOGY AND MOLECULAR MEDICINE ...............................................................................................................138 PREVENTIVE AND PREDICTIVE MEDICINE .................................................................................................................................................151 EDUCATION AND TRAINING .........................................................................................................................................................................163 PUBLICATIONS ..................................................................................................................................................................................................167 ONGOING PROJECTS SUPPORTED BY CHARITIES, INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS ...............................213 ETHICS COMMITTEE ........................................................................................................................................................................................220 ONGOING CLINICAL STUDIES ......................................................................................................................................................................221 3 From the Scientific Director FROM THE SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR UGO PASTORINO This report provides an overview of the large spectrum of research activities, and multidisciplinary programs performed by INT in 2014, and outlines the strategic directions for future institutional projects. Our researchers obtained excellent results in 2014, as shown by the growth of our total Impact Factor, which reached 3,518.06 with 639 publications: the IF increased by 756.08 and the number of published papers by 89 compared to 2013. We submitted 239 research projects to various funding bodies. Of the 29 projects submitted within Horizon 2020, 14 were successful at the first stage, and one has already been funded. An independent international assessment of INT’s scientific output was provided by the SCImago ranking system (www.scimagojr.com/), which placed INT at top positions among Italian IRCCSs, as well as in the group of major European research institutions, for the quality of its output, international collaboration, publications in internationally accredited scientific journals, and patent citations. Clinical research has also been growing steadily: the active clinical trials (i.e. with at least one enrolled patient) were 534 (468 in 2013), 334 of which were non-profit, with 16,551 enrolled patients overall. The quality of active clinical back to contents 5 SCIENTIFIC REPORT 2014 trials was remarkable, with a 53% rate of randomized studies, corresponding to 193 trials. Among the observational studies, 90% were non-profit, while among drug experimentations the non-profit studies were 48%; these rates show that most of INT’s clinical studies are investigator driven. The high rate of non-profit studies was clearly facilitated by the activity of the institutional Clinical Trials Center (CTC). Created in 2011 as a project of the Scientific Directorate and aimed at supporting investigator-driven, early-phase clinical trials and at helping researchers manage spontaneous projects, the CTC has become