Flavia Pichiorri, Ph.D.
- Associate Professor, Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research
626-256-4673Flavia Pichiorri, Ph.D.
- Basic and translational research in multiple myeloma
- Natural therapies: Compound derived from the chamomile flower that fights multiple myeloma
Flavia Pichiorri, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research within the Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute.
Prior to joining City of Hope, Dr. Pichiorri was Assistant Professor in the Division of Hematology at Ohio State University College of Medicine. Dr. Pichiorri graduated cum laude with her M.S. in Molecular Cell and Development Biology from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata.”. She also received her doctorate in Experimental Medicine from the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” and completed her postdoctoral training at Ohio State University in the Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics.
As a post-doctoral fellow and research scientist, Dr. Pichiorri demonstrated that microRNAs (miRNAs) are involved in the malignant transformation of plasma cells and that miRNA-dependent deregulation of critical genes contributes to multiple myeloma pathogenesis. She showed that recurrent molecular aberrations, such as p53 mutation/deletion, could affect the miRNA expression and therapeutic response of multiple myeloma cells, and that circulating miRNAs could be considered new prognostic biomarkers for multiple myeloma.
- 2010 – 2011, Research Scientist, Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, Laboratory of Carlo M Croce, MD
- 2006 – 2009, Post-Doctoral Research, Department of Molecular Virology, Immunology and Medical Genetics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. Mentor: Carlo M Croce, M.D.
- 2004 – 2006, Visiting Ph.D. Student, Experimental Medicine Program, Department of Medical Genetics, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mentor: Carlo M Croce, M.D.
- 2001 – 2004, Ph.D. Student, Experimental Medicine Program, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy. Mentor: Luigi G Spagnoli, M.D.
- 1999 – 2001, Research Assistant, National Research Council, Institute of Neurobiology and Molecular Medicine, Rome, Italy. Mentor: Federico Cozzolino, M.D.
- 1997 – 1999, Research Student, School of Biological Science, University of Rome “Tor Vergata” Rome, Italy. Mentor: Mario Lo Bello, Ph.D.
Degrees
- 2006, Ph.D., Experimental Medicine, University of Rome “Tor Vergata” Rome, Italy
- 1999, M.S., Molecular Cell and Development Biology, Cum Laude, University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy
- 1996, B.S., Biological Science University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome, Italy
Fellowship
- 2009, Postdoctoral Training, The Ohio State University, Columbus,Ohio
The Pichiorri lab is focused on basic and translational research in multiple myeloma.
Specifically, on:
(1) preclinical and clinical experimental therapeutics in multiple myeloma;
(2) identification of genetic and epigenetic abnormalities involved in multiple myeloma pathogenesis;
(3) understanding the physiological role of multiple myeloma-derived extracellular vesicles in modulating the tumor microenvironment and their possible use as easily accessible biomarkers for multiple myeloma patient stratification at diagnosis and resistance to therapy.
- Nuovo G, Mezache L, Magro C, Hofmeister CC, Pichiorri F, Sborov D. Modulation of PD-L1 and CD8 activity in idiopathic and infectious chronic inflammatory conditions. First submission: App Immunohistochemistry and Molecular Morphology. Appl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol. 2016 Jul 19.
- Stiff A, Caserta E, Sborov DW, Nuovo GJ, Mo X, Schlotter SY, Canella A, Smith E, Badway J, Old M, Jaime-Ramirez AC, Yan P, Benson DM Jr, Byrd JC, Baiocchi R, Kaur B, Hofmeister CC, Pichiorri F. Histone deacetylase inhibitors enhance the therapeutic potential of reovirus in multiple myeloma. Mol Cancer Ther. 2016 Jan 25. pii: molcanther.0240.2015.
- Harshman, SW, Canella A, Ciarlariello PD, Agarwal K, Branson OE, Rocci A, Cordero H, Phelps MA, Hade EM, Dubovsky JA, Palumbo A, Rosko A, Byrd JC, Hofmeister CC, Benson DM Jr, Paulaitis ME, Freitas MA, Pichiorri F. Proteomic characterization of circulating extracelllar vesicles identifies novel serum myeloma associated markers. J Proteomics. 2016 Jan 13.. pii: S1874-3919(15)30214-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jprot.2015.12.016. PMID:26775013.
- Stiff, A, Badway, J, Nuovo, G, Sborov, DW, Smith, EM, Talabere, T, Hofmeister, CC, Pichiorri, F. Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors Enhance the Therapeutic Potential of Reovirus in Multiple Myeloma. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. 2015, Nov 15 add to this once it comes out in PubMed.
- Canella A, Cordero-Nieves H, Sborov DW, Cascione L, Radomska HS, Smith E, Stiff A, Consiglia J, Caserta E, Rizzotto L, Zanesi N, Stefano V, Kaur B, Mo X, Byrd JC, Efebera YA, Hofmeister CC, Pichiorri F. HDAC inhibitor AR-42 decreases CD44 experssion and sensitizes myeloma cells to lenalidomide. Oncotarget. 2015 Sept 25.
- Khalife J, Radomska HS, Santhanam R, Huang X, Neviani P, Saultz J, Wang H, Wu YZ, Alachkar H, Anghelina M, Dorrance A, Curfman J, Bloomfield CD, Medeiros BC, Perrotti D, Lee LJ, Lee RJ, Caligiuri MA, Pichiorri F, Croce CM, Garzon R, Guzman ML, Mendler JH, Marcucci G. Pharmacological targeting of miR-155 via the NEDD8-activating enzyme inhibitor MLN4924 (Pevonedistat) in FLT3-ITD acute myeloid leukemia. Leukemia. 2015 May 14. doi: 10.1038/leu.2015.106. [Epub ahead of print]
- Palmieri D, Richmond T, Piovan C, Sheetz T, Zanesi N, Troise F, Cindy James, Dorothee Wernicke-Jameson, Fata Nyei, Timothy J. Gordon, Francesco Salvatore, Vincenzo Coppola, Flavia Pichiorri, Claudia De Lorenzo, and Carlo M. Croce. A Human anti-Nucleolin Recombinant Immunoagent for Cancer Therapy. Proc Natl AcadSci U S A. 2015 Jul 13. pii: 201507087. [Epub ahead of print].
- Chu B, Sell M, Tucker J, Shana' ah A, Hofmeister CC, Benson, DM Jr, Pichiorri F,Efebera YA. Long Term Therapy with Lenalidomide in a patient with POEMS Syndrome. EJCRIM 2014;1:doi: 10.12890/2014_000093.
- Volinia S, Nuovo G, Drusco A, Costinean S, Abujarour R, Desponts C, Garofalo M, Baffa R, Aeqilan R, Maharry K, Garzon ME, Di Leva G, Gasparini P, Dama P, Marchesini J, Galasso M, Manfrini M, Zerbinati C, Corrà F, Wise T, Wojcik SE, Previati M, Pichiorri F, Zanesi N, Alder H, Palatini J, Huebner KF, Shapiro CL, Negrini M, Vecchione A, Rosenberg AL, Croce CM. Pluripotent Stem Cell miRNAs and Metastasis in Invasive Breast Cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2014 Oct 11;106(12) Print 2014 Dec. PMID: 25306216.
- Sborov DW, Nuovo GJ, Stiff A, Mace Ta, Lesinski GB, Benson DM Jr, Efebera YA, Rosko AE, Pichiorri F, Grever MR, Hofmeister CC. A Phase 1 trial of Single Agent Reolysin in Patients with Relapsed Multiple Myeloma. Clin Cancer Res. 2014 Oct7; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 25294913.
- Pichiorri F, Rocci A, Hofmeister C. The potential of microRNAs as biomarkers for multiple myeloma.Expert Review of Molecular Diagnostics. 2014, Aug 7:1-13. PMID: 25098410.
- Efanov A, Zanesi N, Coppola V, Nuovo G, Bolon B, Wernicle-Jameson D, Lagana A, Hansjuerg A, Pichiorri F, Croce CM. Human HMGA2 Protein Overexpressed in Mice Induces Precursor T-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Blood Cancer J. 2014 Jul 11;4:e227. PMID:25014774.
- Drusco A, Nuovo GJ, Zanesi N, Di Leva G, Pichiorri F,Volinia S, Fernandez C, Antenucci A, Costinean S, Bottoni A, Rosito IA, Liu CG, Burch A, Acunzo M, Pekarsky Y, Alder H, Ciardi A, Croce CM. MicroRNA Profiles Discriminate Among Colon Cancer Metastasis. PLoS One. 2014 Jun 12;9(6):e96670. PMID:24921248.
- Rocci A, Hofmeister CC, Geyer S, Stiff A, Gambella M, Cascione L, Guan J, Benson DM, Efebera YA, Talabere T, Dirisala V, Smith EM, Omedè P, Isaia G, De Luca L, Rossi D, Gentili S, Uccello G, Consiglio J, Ria R, Benevolo G, Bringhen S, Callea V, Weiss B, Ferro A, Magarotto V, Alder H, Byrd JC, Boccadoro M, Marcucci G, Palumbo A, Pichiorri F. Circulating miRNA markers show promise as new prognosticators for multiple myeloma. Leukemia. 2014 May 12. PMID:24813918.
- 2012, American Society of Hematology
- 2011, Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Roundtable, Member
- 2011, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, Ad hoc Grant Reviewer
- 2010, Multiple Myeloma Research Consortium, Roundtable, Member
- 2004, American Association of Cancer Research