Establishing strategies to study the spatial complexity of the tumor proteome

• Grant number: 23/07866-5
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: October 01, 2023
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Vitor Marcel Faça
• Grantee: Vitor Marcel Faça
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Paula Masson ; Leandro Machado Colli ; Virgínia Campos Silvestrini
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/12892-8 - Spatial proteomic signature of metabolic pathways in microdissected samples of renal tumor, BP.IC

Abstract

Cell biology has studied the organization, structure and function of cells in different tissues for centuries. Important advances have taken place in this area, mainly related to the technological development that today allows, for example, the diagnosis and sub classification of tumors using molecular markers evaluated by the most diverse strategies. However, identification of the molecular target for accurate diagnosis is the essential information still needed for the expansion of these applications within pathology. Currently, great importance has been given to changes in the spatial organization of cells in healthy or pathological tissues, as well as to the intercommunication of these cells. On the frontier of this type of view, recent studies combine image analysis of a tissue containing different cell phenotypes with the profile of biomolecules identified in regions containing a homogeneous set of cells or even a single cell. Thus, a very specific molecular-spatial profile of the tissue in question is created, which allows the diagnosis, the selection of the treatment or even the prevention of the disease within what is known today as precision medicine. With this purpose, we will analyze through proteomic approaches, tumor tissues obtained from ongoing clinical studies at FMRP-USP, starting with the CLARA study for renal cancer, in order to associate the cellular and histological profiles with the proteomic profiles. Samples will be segmented by laser capture microscopy and analyzed individually by hightroughput proteomics and targeted proteomics. Some relevant proteins identified in these profiles will be selected for validation by immunohistochemistry, which may represent new targets for accurate diagnosis or tumor subtyping, thus contributing to advances in precision medicine and modern oncology. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

TEIBO, JOHN OLUWAFEMI; PICANCO-CASTRO, VIRGINIA; DE SOUZA, LUCAS EDUARDO BOTELHO; FACA, VITOR MARCEL. A Proteomics Outlook on the Molecular Effectors of CAR-T Cell Therapy in Cancer Management. JOURNAL OF PROTEOME RESEARCH, v. N/A, p. 13-pg., 2025-03-06. (13/08135-2, 20/13463-2, 23/07866-5)