Claudia Capparelli, PhD
Assistant Professor
Contact
Bluemle Life Science Building
233 S. 10th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
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Claudia Capparelli, PhD
Assistant Professor
Research & Clinical Interest
Research in the Capparelli Lab focuses on melanoma, the most aggressive type of skin cancer due to its high metastatic nature. The incidence rate of melanoma is rising and, despite recent therapeutic advances, the efficacy of FDA-approved treatments is limited by tumor heterogeneity, cellular adaptations, and resistance. Our studies aim to identify mechanisms of drug tolerance and resistance to targeted inhibitors and immunotherapies in melanoma. Cellular plasticity contributes to intra-tumoral heterogeneity and phenotype switching, which enable adaptation to metastatic microenvironments and resistance to therapies. It is crucial to understand the mechanistic switches to drug-tolerant subpopulations and selectively targeting them to improve treatment for Stage III and IV melanoma. Our research aims to identify and target pathway dependencies and vulnerabilities in tolerant persister cells to prevent metastasis and improve treatment options for melanoma patients. Additional research interests include characterizing alterations that occur in the tumor microenvironment during the establishment of drug tolerance and following different combination therapies.
Overall, our research aims to understand how tumor heterogeneity and plasticity contribute to resistance to therapies and melanoma progression, with the goal of identifying novel therapeutical approach for the treatment of melanoma.
Education
PhD, Cell Biochemistry and Drug Action in Oncology, University of Calabria, 2011
MS, Pharmaceutical Chemistry & Technology, University of Calabria - 2006
Publications
- SOX10 Loss Sensitizes Melanoma Cells to Cytokine-Mediated Inflammatory Cell Death
- Gene signature reveals decreased SOX10-dependent transcripts in malignant cells from immune checkpoint inhibitor-resistant cutaneous melanomas
- Targeting up-regulated cIAP2 in SOX10-deficient drug tolerant melanoma
- MacroH2A restricts inflammatory gene expression in melanoma cancer-associated fibroblasts by coordinating chromatin looping
- Targeting SOX10-deficient cells to reduce the dormant-invasive phenotype state in melanoma