Maria Vittoria Dieci - Eng.pdf

The main research field is breast cancer, with a specific focus on three main areas:

Evaluation of the prognostic and predictive role of immune-related biomarkers in breast cancer patients. During the research period at the Institut Gustave Roussy in Paris, I have acquired the skill of scoring tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in breast cancer. The results of my research activity have contributed to establish the prognostic role of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) in early triple negative breast cancer (Dieci MV, Ann Oncol 2014, Dieci MV Ann Oncol 2015) and to study the role of TIL in other breast cancer subtypes (Dieci MV, Ann Oncol 2016, Dieci MV, Breast Cancer Res Treat 2017) and settings (metastatic disease, Dieci MV, Breast Cancer Res 2018).  I am involved in the International Working Group on Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes, which is leading the research in the field and producing recommendation for TIL evaluation in order to achieve a standardized and reproducible method (Dieci MV, Semin Cancer Biol 2017). Beyond simple TIL evaluation, a focus of my research activity is on immune microenvironment characterization, including the evaluation of TIL populations and other immune markers such as PD-L1. Another recent research area related to the interplay between the immune system and cancer is the study of host-related factors such as the gut microbiome and its relation with clinical outcome and tissue immune biomarkers (BIRD178549/17).

Molecular characterization of breast cancer and treatment personalization. This research area is characterized by studies assessing molecular and genomic heterogeneity of breast cancer and its dynamic evolution during treatments (Dieci MV, Ann Oncol 2013), including clinical studies of liquid biopsy in breast cancer patients (project GR-2016-02361279, Italian Ministry of Health) in order to identify potential predictors of treatment sensitivity or resistance.

New therapeutic strategies and evaluation of innovative treatments for breast cancer. I am involved in the design and conduction of several investigator-driven clinical studies in breast cancer, with a specific focus on trials assessing the efficacy of immunotherapy-based treatments for non metastatic disease (A-BRAVE Trial NCT02926196, GIADA Trial EUDRACT 2016-004665-10) and their translational correlative biomarker studies. Another area of clinical studies regards the evaluation of   the impact on clinical practice of the use of prognostic genomic tests (Dieci MV, Oncologist 2017).

1. Dieci MV, Tsvetkova V, Orvieto E, Piacentini F, Ficarra G, Griguolo G, Miglietta F, Giarratano T, Omarini C, Bonaguro S, Cappellesso R, Aliberti C, Vernaci G, Giorgi CA, Faggioni G, Tasca G, Conte P, Guarneri V. Immune characterization of breast cancer metastases: prognostic implications.Breast Cancer Res. 2018 Jun 22;20(1):62.

2. Dieci MV, Guarneri V, Giarratano T, Mion M, Tortora G, De Rossi C, Gori S, Oliani C, Merlini L, Pasini F, Bonciarelli G, Griguolo G, Orvieto E, Michieletto S, Saibene T, Del Bianco P, De Salvo GL, Conte P. First Prospective Multicenter Italian Study on the Impact of the 21-Gene Recurrence Score in Adjuvant Clinical Decisions for Patients with ER Positive/HER2 Negative Breast Cancer. The Oncologist. 2017 Nov 13.

3. Dieci MV, Radosevic-Robin N, Fineberg S, van den Eynden G, Ternes N, Penault-Llorca F, Pruneri G, D'Alfonso TM, Demaria S, Castaneda C, Sanchez J, Badve S, Michiels S, Bossuyt V, Rojo F, Singh B, Nielsen T, Viale G, Kim SR, Hewitt S, Wienert S, Loibl S, Rimm D, Symmans F, Denkert C, Adams S, Loi S, Salgado R; International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer. Update on tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer, including recommendations to assess TILs in residual disease after neoadjuvant therapy and in carcinoma in situ: A report of the International Immuno-Oncology Biomarker Working Group on Breast Cancer. Semin Cancer Biol. 2017 Oct 9. pii: S1044-579X(17)30217-1.

4. Dieci MV, Frassoldati A, Generali D, Bisagni G, Piacentini F, Cavanna L, Cagossi K, Puglisi F, Michelotti A, Berardi R, Banna G, Goubar A, Ficarra G, Griguolo G, Conte P, Guarneri V. Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and molecular response after neoadjuvant therapy for HR+/HER2- breast cancer: results from two prospective trials. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2017 Jun;163(2):295-302.

5. Dieci MV, Prat A, Tagliafico E, Paré L, Ficarra G, Bisagni G, Piacentini F, Generali DG, Conte P, Guarneri V. Integrated evaluation of PAM50 subtypes and immune modulation of pCR in HER2-positive breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy and HER2-targeted agents in the CherLOB trial. Ann Oncol, 2016 Oct;27(10):1867-73

6. Dieci MV, Smutná V, Scott V, Yin G, Xu R, Vielh P, Mathieu MC, Vicier C, Laporte M, Drusch F, Guarneri G, Conte P, Delaloge S, Lacroix L, Fromigué O, André F, Lefebvre C.Whole exome sequencing of rare aggressive breast cancer histologies. Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2016 Feb;156(1):21-32.

7. Dieci MV, Mathieu MC, Guarneri V, Conte P, Delaloge S, Andre F, Goubar A. Prognostic and predictive value of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in two phase III randomized adjuvant breast cancer trials. Ann Oncol. 2015 Aug;26(8):1698-704.

8. DieciMV,CriscitielloC, GoubarA, VialeG, ConteP, Guarneri V, FicarraG, MathieuMC, Delaloge  S, CuriglianoG, AndreF. Prognostic value of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes on residual disease after primary chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer: A retrospective multicenter study. Ann Oncol 2014 Mar;25(3):611-8.

9. Dieci MV, Arnedos M, Andre F, Soria JC. Fibroblast growth factor receptor inhibitors as a cancer treatment: from a biologic rationale to medical perspectives. Cancer Discov. 2013 Mar;3(3):264-79.

10. Dieci MV, Barbieri E, Piacentini F, Ficarra G, Bettelli S, Dominici M, Conte PF, Guarneri V. Discordance in receptor status between primary and recurrent breast cancer has a prognostic impact: a single-institution analysis. Ann Oncol. 2013 Jan;24(1):101-8.

Ministry of Health Grant GR-2016-02361279