Anastasia De Luca

NOME E COGNOME

Anastasia De Luca

POSIZIONE

Assistant Professor in Clinical Biochemistry

LUYOGO E DATA DI NASCITA

Rome, August 24th 1982 

EDUCAZIONE  

INSTITUTO

GRADO

MM/AA

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Laurea Triennale 

07/2004

Biotecnologie

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Laurea Magistrale

PhD

09/2006

11/2009

Biotecnologie Mediche

Biologia Cellulare e Molecolare

Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Borsa di Studio

4-7/2009

biochimica

Universit of Rome “Tor Vergata

Scuola di specializzazion

07/2018

Biochimica Clinica

POSIZIOONI LAVORATIVE

LUOGO ED ISTITUTO

POSIZIONE

MM/AA

PROGETTO

Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata IRCSS, Roma

Post-Doc

11/2009-12/2010

European Project contract

“Novel testing stratrgies for in vitro assesment of allergens”

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Department odi Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche

Post-Doc

01/2011-12/2011

“Analysis of the interaction between GST P1-1 and proteins that mediate the apoptotic response of tumors to cytotoxic stimuli”

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

NAST Centre for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology & Innovative Instrumentation

Post-Doc

04/2012-03/2014

“Analysis of the interaction between GST P1-1 and proteins involved in the apoptotic response”

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

NAST Centre for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology & Innovative Instrumentation

Post-Doc

04/2014-04/2015

“Analysis of the therapeutic efficacy of new nitrobenzoxadiazoles on human melanoma models”

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Department of Experimental Medicine and Surgery

borsa di ricerca della Fondazione Umberto Veronesi

05/2015-04/2016

“Investigation of the effect of novel nitrobenzoxadiazole derivatives on metastatic melanoma”

ISTITUTO E LUOGO

POSIZIONE

MM/YY

PROGETTO

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Dipartimento di Biomedicina e Prevenzione

Post-Doc

06/2016-12/2016

“Epigenetic and synaptic mechanisms underlying Fragile X syndrome”

Università di Roma Tor Vergata

Dipartimento di Biomedicina e Prevenzione

borsa di ricerca della Fondazione Umberto Veronesi

01/2017-06/2018

“Role of FMRP in circulating breast cancer cells”

University of Rome Tor Vergata

Dipartimento di Biologia

Post-Doc

12/2018-03/2021

“Copper homeostasis in cancer onset and progression”

University of Rome Tor Vergata

Dipartimento di Biologia

borsa d ricerca della Fondazione Umberto Veronesi

04/2021-11/2021

“Dissecting the copper-associated protein network and the effect of extra virgin olive oil derivates during triple negative breast cancer dissemination”

University of Rome Tor Vergata

Dipartimento di Biologia

RTDB biochimica clinica

12/2021-today

Personal Interest

            After the master thesis, Dr. De Luca main interests focused on the role of the cell detoxifying system in the acquisition of drug resistance, with particular attention the role of enzyme Glutathione S-transferase P1-1 (GSTP1-1). She studied the efficacy and the biochemical characterization of new ruthenium-based GSTP1-1 inhibitors, developed in collaboration with the Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne where she spent several months. During her stay in Lausanne, under the guidance of Prof. Paul Dyson, she improved the use of techniques such as MALDI-TOF and ESI-MS mass spectrometry as well as being able to take advantage of an international research environment that she has exploited for the construction of new collaborations. 

            Once back in Rome, she focused her attention on the research of new molecules able to circumvent the acquisition of drug resistance in treating tumors. She contributed significantly to the development of new 6-(7-nitro-2,1,3 benzoxadiazol-4-iltio) hexanol (NBDHEX) derivatives, GSTP1-1 suicide inhibitors, fully characterizing their mechanism of action on a wide panel of different tumor types with the aid of numerous cell biology techniques applied both on human cancer cell cultures and on three-dimensional models of human tumors and mouse xenografts. During this period she acquired a high level of competence in the study of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) mediated cell signaling in cancer and in the study, both in vitro and directly within the cell, of protein-protein interactions, creating further collaborations that led her to further expand her skills. The results obtained from this research resulted in several papers published in peer review journals and also in one Italian patent. Of note, her outcomes allowed her to win three times the Fellowship granted from Fondazione Umberto Veronesi. 

            In December 2021, she obtained the Assistant Professor position, in clinical biochemistry, at the Department of Biology of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”. She focused her research on the mechanisms underlying cancer dissemination, the epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). Her main interested is on the interconnection between copper homeostasis and EMT in different type of cancers including breast, melanoma, colorectal and pancreatic cancer.

CONGRESS PARTECIPATION

-       maggio 29-31, 2023: 7th CANCER WORLD CONGRESS: Palermo (Italy). Invited speaker “Modulation of Copper Homeostasis to Counteract Breast Cancer Dissemination”

-       settembre 18-23, 2022 International copper meeting, Sorrento (Italy). Invited speaker “AKT-driven epithelial-mesenchymal transition in triple negative breast cancer is affected by copper bioavailability via a Her2/LOXL2- independent pathway”

-       giugno 20-23, 2015     EACR AACR SIC “FROM CANCER BIOLOGY TO THE CLINIC”

Poster Presentation:

• Anastasia De Luca, Graziani G, Rotili D, Muzi A, Mai A, Leonetti C, Artuso S, Bonanno E, Tentori L, Caccuri AM.“A new water-soluble nitrobenzoxadiaxole is highly effective against emurafenib resistant human melanoma cell line”

• Anastasia De Luca, Rotili D, Carpanese D, Mai A, Rosato A, Graziani G, Leonetti C, Geroni C, Quintieri L, Caccuri AM.“Nitrobenzoxadiazoles exert anti-melanoma activity modulating the MAPK/JNK signalling”

-       ottobre 14-18, 2012: BIOCHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY OF MAP KINASES

            Poster Presentation:

De Luca Anastasia, Federici L, De Canio M, Stella L, Caccuri AM “New Insights into the Mechanism of JNK1 Inhibition by Glutathione Transferase P1-1”

-       giugno 25-30, 2011: 36TH FEBS CONGRESS. BIOCHEMISTRY FOR TOMORROW'S MEDICINE

            Poster Presentation:

A. Primavera, Anastasia De Luca, N. Moroni, A. Serafino, R. Petruzzelli, P. S. Vallebona and M. Lo Bello “Treatment of doxorubicin resistant MCF7/dx cells with nitric oxide causes histone glutathionylation and reversal of drug resistance”

PUBBLICAZIONI

Italian Patent approved November, 20 2014 N°.1412189

Inventors: Antonello Mai, Anna Maria Caccuri, Luca Federici, Dante Rotili, Anastasia De Luca.

 “Derivati del 7-Nitro-2,1,3-Benzossadiazolo per terapia antitumorale”

1.     Rapanotti MC, Cugini E, Campione E, Di Raimondo C, Costanza G, Rossi P, Ferlosio A, Bernardini S, Orlandi A, Anastasia De Luca and Bianchi L. Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition Gene Signature in Circulating Melanoma Cells: Biological and Clinical Relevance. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Jul 22;24(14):11792.

2.     Cencelli G, Pacini L, Anastasia De Luca , Messia I, Gentile A, Kang Y, Nobile V, Tabolacci E, Jin P, Farace MG, Bagni C. Age-Dependent Dysregulation of APP in Neuronal and Skin Cells from Fragile X Individuals. Cells. 2023 Feb 27;12(5):758. 

3.     Turchi R, Tortolici F, Benvenuto M, Punziano C, Anastasia De Luca, Rufini S, Faraonio R, Bei R, Lettieri-Barbato D, Aquilano K. Low Sulfur Amino Acid, High Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Diet Inhibits Breast Cancer Growth. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Dec 23;24(1):249. 

4.     Vitaliti A, Roccatani I, Iorio E, Perta N, Gismondi A, Chirico M, Pisanu ME, Di Marino D, Canini A, Anastasia De Luca A and Rossi L. AKT-driven epithelial-mesenchymal transition is affected by copper bioavailability in HER2 negative breast cancer cells via a LOXL2-independent mechanism. Cell Oncol (Dordr). 2023 Feb;46(1):93-115. 

5.     Vitaliti A, De Luca A, Rossi L. Copper-Dependent Kinases and Their Role in Cancer Inception, Progression and Metastasis. Biomolecules. 2022 Oct 20;12(10):1520.

6.     da Silva DA, Anastasia De Luca, Squitti R, Rongioletti M, Rossi L, Machado CML, Cerchiaro G. J. Copper in tumors and the use of copper-based compounds in cancer treatment . Inorg Biochem. 2022 Jan;226:111634.

7.     Anastasia De Luca, Fostinelli S, Ferrari C, Binetti G, Benussi L, Borroni B, Rossi L, Rongioletti M, Ghidoni R, Squitti R. Iron Serum Markers Profile in Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration.  J Alzheimers Dis. 2020;78(4):1373-1380.

8.     Di Paolo V, Fulci C, Rotili D, Anastasia De Luca, Tomassi S, Serra M, Scimeca M, Geroni C, Quintieri L, Caccuri AM. Characterization of water-soluble esters of nitrobenzoxadiazole-based GSTP1-1 inhibitors for cancer treatment. Biochem Pharmacol. 2020 Aug;178:114060.

9.     Anastasia De Luca, Barile A, Arciello M, Rossi L. Copper homeostasis as target of both consolidated and innovative strategies of anti-tumor therapy . J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2019 Sep;55:204-213.

10.  Anastasia De Luca, Parker LJ, Ang WH, Rodolfo C, Gabbarini V, Hancock NC, Palone F, Mazzetti AP, Menin L, Morton CJ, Parker MW, Lo Bello M, Dyson PJ. A structure-based mechanism of cisplatin resistance mediated by glutathione transferase P1-1 . Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Jul 9;116(28):13943-13951.

11.  Anastasia De Luca, A. Barile, M. Arciello, L. Rossi. Copper homeostasis as target of both consolidated and innovative strategies of anti-tumor therapy. J TRACE ELEM MED BIO, in press.

12.  V. Di Paolo, C. Fulci, D. Rotili, F. Sciarretta, A. Lucidi, B. Morozzo della Rocca, Anastasia De Luca, A. Rosato, L. Quintieri & A.M. Caccuri. Synthesis and characterisation of a new benzamide-containing nitrobenzoxadiazole as a GSTP1-1 inhibitor endowed with high stability to metabolic hydrolysis.

13.  Zalfa F, Panasiti V, Carotti S, Zingariello M, Perrone G, Sancillo L, Pacini L, Luciani F, Roberti V, D'Amico S, Coppola R, Abate SO, Rana RA, De Luca Anastasia, Fiers M, Melocchi V, Bianchi F, Farace MG, Achsel T, Marine JC, Morini S, Bagni C. The fragile X mental retardation protein regulates tumor invasiveness-related pathways in melanoma cells. Cell Death Dis. 2017 Nov 16;8(11):e3169.

14.  Ceccarelli A, Di Venere A, Nicolai E, De Luca Anastasia, Rosato N, Gratton E, Mei G, Caccuri AM.  New insight into the interaction of TRAF2 C-terminal domain with lipid raft microdomains. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids. 2017 Sep;1862(9):813-822

15.  De Luca Anastasia, Carpanese D, Rapanotti MC, Viguria TM, Forgione MA, Rotili D, Fulci C, Iorio E, Quintieri L, Chimenti S, Bianchi L, Rosato A, Caccuri AM. The nitrobenzoxadiazole derivative MC3181 blocks melanoma invasion and metastasis. Oncotarget. 2017 Feb 28;8(9):15520-15538.

16.  Fulci C, Rotili D, De Luca Anastasia, Stella L, Morozzo Della Rocca B, Forgione M, Di Paolo V, Mai A, Falconi M, Quintieri L, Caccuri AM.  A new nitrobenzoxadiazole-based GSTP1-1 inhibitor with a previously unheard of mechanism of action and high stability. J Enzyme Inhib Med Chem. 2017 Dec;32(1):240-247.

17.  Palumbo C, De Luca Anastasia, Rosato N, Forgione M, Rotili D, Caccuri AM.  c-Jun Nterminal kinase activation by nitrobenzoxadiazoles leads to late-stage autophagy inhibition. J Transl Med. 2016 Feb 4;14(1):37.

18.  Ceccarelli A, Di Venere A, Nicolai E, De Luca Anastasia, Minicozzi V, Rosato N, Caccuri AM, Mei G. TNFR-Associated Factor-2 (TRAF2): Not Only a Trimer. Biochemistry. 2015 Oct 13;54(40):6153-61.

19.  Luisi G, Mollica A, Carradori S, Lenoci A, De Luca Anastasia, Caccuri AM. Nitrobenzoxadiazole-based GSTP1-1 inhibitors containing the full peptidyl moiety of (pseudo)glutathione. J Enzyme Inhib Med Chem. 2015 Sep 2:1-7.

20.  Graziani G, Artuso S, De Luca Anastasia, Muzi A, Rotili D, Scimeca M, Atzori MG, Ceci C, Mai A, Leonetti C, Levati L, Bonanno E, Tentori L, Caccuri AM.  A new water soluble MAPK activator exerts antitumor activity in melanoma cells resistant to the BRAF inhibitor vemurafenib. Biochem Pharmacol. 2015 May 1;95(1):16-27.

21.  De Luca Anastasia, Rotili D, Carpanese D, Lenoci A, Calderan L, Scimeca M, Mai A, Bonanno E, Rosato A, Geroni C, Quintieri L, Caccuri AM.  A novel orally active watersoluble Inhibitor of human glutathione transferase exerts a potent and selective antitumor activity against human melanoma xenografts. Oncotarget. 2015 Feb 28;6(6):4126-43.

22.  Rotili D, De Luca Anastasia, Tarantino D, Pezzola S, Forgione M, Morozzo della Rocca B, Falconi M, Mai A, Caccuri AM.  Synthesis and Structure-Activity Relationship of New Cytotoxic Agents Targeting Human Glutathione-S-Transferases. Eur J Med Chem. 2015 Jan 7;89:156-71.

23.  Avitabile S, Sordi D, Garcovich S, Colonna L, De Luca Anastasia, Nasorri F, Mazzanti C, Cavani A.  Effective squaric acid dibutylester immunotherapy is associated with a reduction of skin infiltrating T-helper (Th)1 and Th17 cells in alopecia areata patients. J Dermatol. 2014 Dec 12.

24.  De Luca Anastasia, Mei G, Rosato N, Nicolai E, Federici L, C Palumbo, Pastore A, Serra M, Caccuri AM.  The fine tuning of TRAF2-GSTP1-1 interaction. Effect of ligand binding and in situ detection of the complex. Cell Death Dis. 2014 Jan 23;5:e1015.

25.  De Luca Anastasia, Tregno FP, Sau A, Pastore A, Palumbo C, Cicconi R, Federici G, Caccuri AM.  Glutathione S-transferase P1-1 as a target for Mesothelioma treatment. Cancer Sci. 2013 Feb;104(2):223-30.

26.  Anastasia De Luca, Christian G. Hartinger, Paul J. Dyson, Mario Lo Bello, Angela Casini. A new target for gold(I) compounds: Glutathione-S-transferase inhibition by auranofin. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry. 2013 Feb;119:38-42. Epub 2012 Aug 24.

27.  De Luca Anastasia, Federici L, De Canio M, Stella L, Caccuri AM.  New Insights into the Mechanism of JNK1 Inhibition by Glutathione Transferase P1-1.Biochemistry. 2012 Sep 18;51(37):7304-12.

28.  Parker LJ, Italiano LC, Morton CJ, Hancock NC, Ascher DB, Aitken JB, Harris HH, Campomanes P, Rothlisberger U, De Luca Anastasia, Lo Bello M, Ang WH, Dyson PJ, Parker MW.  Studies of glutathione transferase P1-1 bound to a platinum(IV)-based anticancer compound reveal the molecular basis of its activation. Chemistry. 2011 Jul 4;17(28):7806-16.

29.  De Luca Anastasia, Moroni N, Serafino A, Primavera A, Pastore A, Pedersen JZ, Petruzzelli R, Farrace MG, Pierimarchi P, Moroni G, Federici G, Sinibaldi Vallebona P, Lo Bello M. Treatment of doxorubicin-resistant MCF7/Dx cells with nitric oxide causes histone glutathionylation and reversal of drug resistance. Biochem J. 2011 Dec 1;440(2):175-83.

30.  Cavani A, De Luca Anastasia. (2010)  Allergic contact dermatitis: novel mechanisms and therapeutic perspectives. Curr Drug Metab. 2010 Mar;11(3):228-33.

31.  Fabrini R*, De Luca Anastasia*, Stella L, Mei G, Orioni B, Ciccone S, Federici G, Lo Bello M, Ricci G.  Monomer-dimer equilibrium in glutathione transferases: a critical reexamination. Biochemistry. 2009 Nov 3;48(43):10473-82. *equally contributing authors.

32.  Ang WH, Parker LJ, De Luca Anastasia, Juillerat-Jeanneret L, Morton CJ, Lo Bello M, Parker MW, Dyson PJ.  Rational design of an Organometallic Glutathione Transferase Inhibitor. Angewandte Chemie Int Ed Engl. 2009 Apr 25;48(21):3854-3857.

33.  Ang WH; De Luca Anastasia; Chapuis-Bernasconi C; Juillerat-Jeanneret L; Lo Bello M; Dyson PJ (2007).  Organometallic Ruthenium Inhibitors of Glutathione-S-Transferase P1-1 as Anticancer Drugs. CHEMMEDCHEM, vol. 2(12); p. 1799-1806.