Projects

ROBO/SLIT

Study of the ROBO/SLIT pathway as a targetable pathway in pancreatic cancer in the context of tumor-stroma interactions.
https://transcan-translit.eu/

IFN signaling

Role of IFN signaling activated CAFs in the initiation of pancreatic cancer lesions and in the immune modulation of the disease.

New models

SMART multicelular in vitro models and patient derived explants as platforms to study pancreatic cancer personalized medicine.

cell of origin

The impact of cell of origin in the pathobiology and clinical management of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Publications

  1. A novel empeROR of pancreatic malignancy. Peñuelas-Haro I, Espinet E#. EMBO Journal. 2023 Jul 17;42(14):e114282. doi: 10.15252/embj.2023114282
  2. Mechanisms of PDAC subtype heterogeneity and therapy response. Espinet E, Klein L, Pure E, Singh SK. Trends in Cancer. 2022 Dec;8(12):1060-1071. doi: 10.1016/j.trecan.2022.08.005
  3. HAPLN1 is a driver for peritoneal carcinomatosis in pancreatic cancer. Wiedmann L*, De Angelis Rigotti F*, Vaquero-Siguero N, Donato E, Espinet E, Moll I, Alsina-Sanchis E, Bohnenberger H, Fernandez-Florido E, Mülfarth R, Vacca M, Gerwing J, Conradi LC, Ströbel P, Trumpp A, Mogler C, Fischer A#, Rodriguez-Vita J#. Nature Communications. 2023 Apr 24;14(1):2353. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-38064-w.
  4. Molecular heterogeneity and commonalities in pancreatic cancer precursors with gastric and intestinal phenotype. Liffers SV*, Godfrey L*, Frohn L, Haeberle L, Yavas A, Vesce R, Goering W, Opitz FV, Stoecklein N, Knoefel WT, Schlitter AM, Klöppel G, Espinet E, Trumpp A, Siveke JT, Esposito I. Gut. 2023 Mar;72(3):522-534. doi: 10.1136/gutjnl-2021-326550
  5. Axon Guidance Receptor ROBO3 Establishes Basal-like Phenotypic State and Therapeutic Vulnerabilities in Pancreatic Cancer. Krebs N*, Klein L*, Wegwitz F, Espinet E, Maurer HC, Tu M, Penz F, Küffer S, Xu X, Bohnenberger H, Cameron S, Brunner M, Neesse A, Kishore U, Hessmann E, Trumpp T, Ströbel P, Brekken RA, Ellenrieder V, Singh SK. JCI Insight.2022 Aug 22;7(16):e154475. doi: 10.1172/jci.insight.154475.
  6. Casamitjana J, Espinet E#, Rovira M#. Pancreatic Organoids for Regenerative Medicine and Cancer Research. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022 May 3:10:886153. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.886153
  7. Aggressive PDACs show hypo-methylation of repetitive elements linked and the execution of an intrinsic IFN program linked to a ductal cell-of-origin. Espinet E#, Gu Z, Imbusch CD, Giese NA, Büscher M, Safavi M, Weisenburger S, Klein C, Vogel V, Falcone M, Insua-Rodríguez J, Reitberger M, Thiel V, Kossi SO, Muckenhuber A, Sarai K, Lee AYL, Backx E, Zarei S, Gaida MM, Rodríguez-Paredes M, Donato E, Yen HY, Eils R, Schlesner M, Pfarr N, Hackert T, Plass C, Brors B, Steiger K, Weichenhan D, Arda HE, Rooman I, Kopp JL, Strobel O, Weichert W, Sprick MR, Trumpp A#. Cancer Discovery. 2021 Mar;11(3):638-659. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-20-1202
  8. TNFα-producing macrophages determine subtype identity and prognosis via AP1 enhancer reprogramming in pancreatic cancer. Tu M*, Klein L*, Espinet E, Georgomanolis T, Wegwitz F, Li X, Urbach L, Danieli-Mackay A, Küffer S, Bojarczuk K, Mizi A, Günesdogan U, Chapuy B, Gu Z, Neesse A, Kishore U, Ströbel P, Hessmann E, Hahn SA, Trumpp A, Papantonis A, Ellenrieder V, Singh SK. Nature Cancer. 2021 Nov;2(11):1185-1203. doi: 10.1038/s43018-021-00258-w
  9. On the origin of pancreatic cancer. Backx E, Coolens K, Van den Bossche JL, Houbracken I, Espinet E, Rooman I. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2022;13(4):1243-1253. doi: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2021.11.010
  10. CYP3A5 mediates resistance to small molecule inhibitors in a subtype of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Noll EM*, Eisen C*, Stenzinger A§, Espinet E§, Muckenhuber A, Klein C, Vogel V, Klaus B, Nadler W, Rösli C, Lutz C, Kulke M, Engelhardt J, Zickgraf FM, Espinosa O, Schlesner M, Jiang X, Kopp-Schneider A, Neuhaus P, Bahra M, Sinn BV, Eils R, Giese NA, Hackert T, Strobel O, Werner J, Büchler MW, Weichert W, Trumpp A#, Sprick MR#. Nature Medicine. 2016 Mar;22(3):278-87. doi: 10.1038/nm.4038

Collaborations

  • ALIPANC, Alianza de Investigación en Cáncer de Páncreas. https://alipanc.org/grupo/laboratorio-cancer-pancreas/
  • TRANSPAN CONST action https://transpan.eu/
  • HUB/ICO: (Dr. Berta Laquente – Coordinator of the Functional Unit of Pancreatic Tumors ICO HDiR, Barcelona; Dr. Juli Busquet - surgent; Dr. Teresa Serrano – pathology)
  • VHIO: Dr. Teresa Macarulla – Head of Gastrointestinal Program; Dr. Tian Tian
  • Dr. Eduard Batlle – Group Leader, Colorectal Cancer Lab, IRB, Barcelona.
  • Dr. Nathalia Giese – Group Leader, European Pancreas Center (EPZ) and University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany.
  • Dr. Pancho Barriga – Group Leader of the Genome Engineering Group, VHIO, Barcelona.
  • Dr. Ilse Rooman – Programme Director Pancreatic Cancer. VUB, Belgium.
  • Dr. Shiv Singh – Group Leader, Department of Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Oncology, University Medical Center of Goettingen, Germany.
  • Dr. Corinne Busquet - Centre de Recherches en Cancérologie de Toulouse (CRCT), France.
  • Dr. Carmen Martinez Dominguez - Institute for Biological Interfaces, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany.

Fundings