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Topic: Treatment of

Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer is an increasingly common
malignancy that has benefited very little from
research advancements and new discoveries, as it
remains largely an untreatable disease with a 5-year
survival rate lower than 9%. The reasons for this
setback are searched in the lack of specific early-

Marco Falasca stage symptomatology, leading to a late diagnosis
and consequently limited option of treatment, as
Prof Marco Falasca has over 30 year- well as resistance to chemo- and radiotherapy and
experience and a track record in signal high metastatic potential. Disruption of cell signaling
transduction in cancer cells. He has worked pathways and genetic alterations involving activation
in international renowned institutions such of oncogenes and blocking of tumor suppressors are
as New York University, University College well known to contribute to the start and progression
London and Queen Mary University of of this tumor. Yet, new understanding and insight,
London. His achievements include highly particularly guiding towards new strategies for
cited publications in top journals such as improved therapies, is eagerly awaited. This Special
Science, Nature Communications, EMBO
J, PNAS, supported by competitive grants Issue intends to publish original research, expert
and industry sources. He has made seminal opinions, and reviews on basic, translational and
and significant contributions including: clinical studies connected to different aspects of
pioneering work on the biological activity and pancreatic cancer cell biology, genomics, precision
signalling properties of the lysophospholipid medicine, medical oncology, radiation therapy, and
lysophosphatidylinositol (LPI); he was surgery.
among the very first to demonstrate the
ability of pleckstrin homology domains to
bind phosphoinositides; he also identified a
novel signalling role for the phosphoinositide
phosphatidylinositol-3-monophosphate (PI3P)
and in parallel he identified class II PI3K as
the enzymes responsible for the production of
PI3P unravelling a novel functional role for
this class of enzymes.