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Prof. Luigi Terracciano
Molecular Pathology Division
Institute of Pathology
University Hospital
Schönbeinstrasse 40
CH-4003 Basel / Switzerland
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Luigi Terracciano is Professor of Pathology and Head of the Molecular Pathology Division of the Institute of Pathology at the University Hospital in Basel. He obtained M.D. degree from the University of Napoli, Italy and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Physiology in Heidelberg, Germany. He has devoted a large part of his research activity to the study of hepatocarcinogenesis and liver regeneration. He has also accumulated a large knowledge on the use and evaluation of tissue microarray (TMA) immunohistochemistry and FISH.
Currently, our scientific interest concerns the molecular mechanisms involved with organogenesis and cancerogenesis with a special focus on cancer stem cells considered as cells able to differentiate, self-renew and potentially perform symmetric and asymmetric divisions. A large body of evidence supports the involvement of the HOX gene network with organogenesis and cancerogenesis. HOX genes are characterized by a unique genomic network organization; they regulate normal development and control primary cellular processes (cell identity, cell division and differentiation). We are currently investigating the HOX gene network expression as a molecular system to characterize organ-specific (liver, kidney) normal and cancer stem cell differentiation along epithelial-endothelial compartments. Preliminary evidence suggests that specific HOX genes of the network are involved with stem cell differentiation, organogenesis and cancer.
For additional details, see http://www.patho.unibas.ch
Original publications
- Croquelois A, Blindenbacher A, Terracciano L, Wang X, Langer I, Radtke F. and Heim MH. (2005). Inducible inactivation of Notch1 causes nodular regenerative hyperplasia in mice. Hepatology 41:487-96.
- D'Anto V, Cantile M, D'Armiento M, Schiavo G, Spagnoli G, Terracciano L, Vecchione R. and Cillo C. (2006). The HOX genes are expressed, in vivo, in human tooth germs: in vitro cAMP exposure of dental pulp cells results in parallel HOX network activation and neuronal differentiation. J Cell Biochem. 97:836-48.
- Holst F, Stahl PR, Ruiz C, Hellwinkel O, Jehan Z, Wendland M, Lebeau A, Terracciano L, Al-Kuraya K, Jänicke F, Sauter G. and Simon R. (2007). Estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) gene amplification is frequent in breast cancer. Nature Genetics 39:655-60.
- Cillo C, Schiavo S, Cantile M, Bihl MP, Sorrentino P, Carafa V, Roncalli M, Sansano S, Vecchione R, Tornillo L , Mori L, De Libero G, Zucman-Rossi J. and Terracciano L. (2009). Transcriptional and post-transcriptional deregulation of locus A HOX genes in hepatocellular carcinoma. Neoplasia (in press).
- Lugli A, Iezzi G, Muraro MG, Mele V, Hostettler I, Tornillo L, Carafa V, Spagnoli G, Terracciano L. and Zlobec I. (2009). Prognostic impact of the expression of putative cancer stem cell markers CD166, CD44, EpCam, ALDH1 and CD133 in colorectal cancer. Cancer (in press).
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