PC Research Report by Dr. Sara Ceccacci
I was thrilled to present the results of my postdoc at this year’s annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) conference, which was attended by over 6,500 scientists. My research, funded by the PC project and supervised by Prof. Alain Hovnanian and Dr. Chiara Guerrera, focuses on understanding the elusive pathogenic mechanism driving PC.
To investigate this, we collected biopsies from both lesional and non-lesional areas of 10 PC patients. We then performed in-depth proteomics and phosphoproteomics analyses on these samples.
Excitingly, we’ve identified new deregulated pathways and overactive kinases in lesional samples. These findings offer new insights into the pathogenesis of PC and suggest potential new therapeutic targets.
I had the pleasure of showing our results during the “Clinical Analysis: Applications” session. The presentation was met with great interest and appreciation. We received several questions about our optimized workflow, which not only allowed us to reduce the size of the biopsies—thereby minimizing post-procedural pain for patients—but also enabled us to obtain significant biological results.
Our next crucial step is to validate these findings and delve deeper using a cutting-edge technique called spatial proteomics.
It was truly an honor for me to share our research on PC on such an important stage. While the road to a therapy is still long, we’re pleased with the steps we’ve accomplished and will continue to move forward with all our dedication and perseverance.
