CURRICULUM

MD, Board in Neurology. Senior consultant neurologist and head of the Neuroimmunology Center, S. Gerardo Hospital, Monza (Italy). Head of the Experimental Neurology Unit at the School of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano-Bicocca, Monza. Vice-Rector (Research), University of Milano-Bicocca , Past president of the Associazione Italiana per lo Studio delle Neuropatie Periferiche (equivalent to Italian Peripheral Nerve Society) and member of the Board of Directors of the Peripheral Nerve Society. Chair of the Toxic Neuropathy Consortium. Coordinator of the steering committee of the international CI-PeriNoms group on the investigation of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity. He authored more than 300 peer-reviewed papers (2020 H-index = 57).

RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Preclinical and clinical assessment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity
• Preclinical and clinical assessment of diabetic neuropathy
• Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis
• Use of mesenchymal stem cells in models of neurological diseases
• Biological effects of synchrotron radiation

 RESEARCH PROJECT

The research project is focused on the study of the pathogenesis of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity (CIPN) and on its characterization in proper cellular and animal models.  It will be developed with the support of the Experimental Neurology Unit (ENU, http://www.enu.dcmt.unimib.it) and it will include mechanistic in vitro studies based on primary (neuronal, glial) and organotypic (dorsal root ganglia) cultures, as well as the implementation of in vivo mice/rat CIPN models. Behavioral, neurophysiological and pathological methods currently available at the ENU will be used in the in vivo studies. Given the expertise available at the ENU on all the neurotoxic anticancer drugs available in clinical practice, the selection of the test drug for the studies will be performed at the moment of the project beginning, in order to design the most up-to-date experiments able to address relevant clinical issues. The test drug will be selected among platinum-based compounds, antitubulins or proteasome inhibitors, drugs used in the treatment of more than 50% of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Upon specific agreement and according to the experimental design, part of the project could be performed at the Center for Studies on Pain of the University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD.

MOST RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS

1. Neuronal uptake transporters contribute to oxaliplatin neurotoxicity in mice. Huang KM, Leblanc AF, Uddin ME, Kim JY, Chen M, Eisenmann ED, Gibson A, Li Y, Hong KW, DiGiacomo D, Xia SH, Alberti P, Chiorazzi A, Housley SN, Cope TC, Sprowl JA, Wang J, Loprinzi CL, Noonan A, Lustberg M, Cavaletti G, Pabla N, Hu S, Sparreboom A.J Clin Invest. 2020 Jun 2:136796. doi: 10.1172/JCI136796. Online ahead of print.PMID: 32484793
2. Approaches to measure paediatric chemotherapy-induced peripheral neurotoxicity: a systematic review. Smith EML, Kuisell C, Kanzawa-Lee GA, Bridges CM, Alberti P, Cavaletti G, Saad R, Park S; Toxic Neuropathy Consortium of the Peripheral Nerve Society.Lancet Haematol. 2020 May;7(5):e408-e417. doi: 10.1016/S2352-3026(20)30064-8.PMID: 32359452
3. Oxaliplatin-induced neuropathy occurs through impairment of haemoglobin proton buffering and is reversed by carbonic anhydrase inhibitors. Potenzieri A, Riva B, Rigolio R, Chiorazzi A, Pozzi E, Ballarini E, Cavaletti G, Genazzani AA.Pain. 2020 Feb;161(2):405-415. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001722.PMID: 31634341
4. Clinician-rated measures for distal symmetrical axonal polyneuropathy: ACTTION systematic review. Gewandter JS, Gibbons CH, Campagnolo M, Lee J, Chaudari J, Ward N, Burke L, Cavaletti G, Herrmann DN, McArthur JC, Russell JW, Smith AG, Smith SM, Turk DC, Dworkin RH, Freeman R.Neurology. 2019 Aug 20;93(8):346-360. doi: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000007974. Epub 2019 Jul 18.PMID: 31320471
5. Toxic neuropathies: Chemotherapy Induced Peripheral Neurotoxicity. Alberti P, Cavaletti G, Cornblath DR.Curr Opin Neurol. 2019 Oct;32(5):676-683. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0000000000000724.PMID: 31306214 

 FOREIGN COLLABORATIONS

• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (Prof. D. Cornblath, Prof. A. Hoke, Dr. B. Slusher)
• University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD (Prof. S. Dorsey, Dr. C. Renn)
• Columbia University, New York, NY (Dr. F. Bartolini, Dr. F. Lotti)
• Maastricht University, Maastricth, The Netherland (Dr. I. Merkies)
• Bellvitge University Hospital, Barcelona, Spain (Dr. Jordi Bruna)