Bruno Calabretta, MD, PhD
Scientific Advisor

Dr. Bruno Calabretta is an internationally known molecular oncologist who has made seminal discoveries in the molecular mechanisms of leukemias driven by the BCR-ABL oncoproteins. Such findings include: i) elucidation of the role of signal transduction effectors such as Ras, PI-3K/Akt, STAT5; ii) development of mouse models establishing the role of p53 loss of function in transition from chronic phase to blast crisis CML; iii) elucidation of the mechanism responsible for differentiation arrest of CML-blast crisis myeloid progenitors; and iv) discovery that treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) induce autophagy as a survival mechanism for CML stem cells. These findings were published in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature Genetics, Cancer Cell, J. Clin. Invest., PNAS and Blood and have also led to the development of a clinical trial testing the role of autophagy inhibition in advanced chronic phase CML.