Detail

Keywords

Adaptive Immunity; Cachexia; Gastrointestinal Neoplasms; Inflammation; Metabolism; Oncogenes; Pancreatic Cancer; Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine; Physical Fitness; Radiation Effects; Sarcopenia; Translational Medical Research; Tumor Markers, Biological

Research group(s)

• Experimental Pathology & Laboratory Animal Pathology
  Head: Lukas Kenner
  Research Area: Pathogenesis of cancer, specifically prostate cancer (PC) and Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL).
  Members:
  Elisabeth S. Gruber
• Medical Radiation Research
  Head: Dietmar Georg
  Research Area: The vision of our group is the optimization of the treatment outcome of radiation oncology, alone or in combination with established chemotherapy or novel targeted strategies of drug treatment, with conventional photon or innovative ion-beams.
  Members:
  Nicole Nesvacil
  Andreas Renner
  Gerd Heilemann
  Wolfgang Lechner
  Sylvia Gruber
  Stefan Ecker
  Dietmar Georg
  Barbara Knäusl
  Hermann Fuchs
  Elisabeth S. Gruber
  Peter Kuess
  Petra Trnkova
• Pancreatic Cancer Unit
  Research Area: Diagnostic and treatment of pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms Prehabilitation program before surgery
  Members:
  Klaus Sahora
  Elisabeth S. Gruber
• Pancreatic surgery
  Head: Martin Schindl
  Research Area: Body composition and inflammation in pancreatic neoplasms.
  Members:
  Klaus Sahora
  Elisabeth S. Gruber
  Jakob Mühlbacher
  Gerd Jomrich

Research interests

Translational surgical oncology in gastrointestinal cancer 

1.  Impact of ingested micro- and nanoplastics on gastrointestinal carcinogenicity 

• objective: to analyze the uptake and deposition of plastic particels in gastrointestinal tissue and its carcinogenic consequences
• aim: raise awareness of "plastic food products" and imply a rethink of consurmerism culture

2. Exploration of the impact of physical fitness on the outcome in pancreatic cancer patients

• objective: to understand the impact of physical exercise as well as dietary support on pancreatic cancer outcome
• aim: delevopment of a prehabilitation concept for pancreatic cancer patients

3. Exploration of predictive biomarkers in gastrointestinal cancer

• project 1
• objective: to explore tumor-host interactions by analysis of the patient's inflammation, immune and metabolic profile
• aim: development of novel therapeutic approaches and biomarkers
• project 2
• objective: to understand the impact of the oncogene AF1Q/MLLT11 and its downstream targets
• aim: development of novel AF1Q/MLLT11-mediated therapeutic approaches and biomarkers

4. Stimulation of adaptive immunity by elaboration of the appopriate radiation dosage to improve tumor immune surveillance in (colo)rectal cancer

• objective: to explore quantitive and qualitiative radiation-induced immunomodulation
• aim: definition of a supportive radiation protocol to promote tumor shrinkage/clearance 

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

• Blood and tissue samples (biobank)
• In-vitro cell culture methods, organoid-derived grafts (ODX)
• Molecular pathology methods (protein DNA and RNA analysis)
• Digital pathology
• Laboratory animal and translational pathology, transgenic mouse modelling, patient-derived grafts (PDX), CRISPR-Cas9, RNA knock-down strategies

Grants

• AF1Q in gastrointestinal cancer (2018)
  Source of Funding: OeAW (Austrian Academy of Sciences), Dr. Anton Oelzelt-Newin'sche Stiftung
  Coordinator of the collaborative project

Selected publications

1. Gruber, E.S. et al. (2022) ‘To Waste or Not to Waste: Questioning Potential Health Risks of Micro- and Nanoplastics with a Focus on Their Ingestion and Potential Carcinogenicity’, Exposure and Health [Preprint]. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12403-022-00470-8.
2. Gruber, E.S. et al. (2020) ‘The Determination of Immunomodulation and Its Impact on Survival of Rectal Cancer Patients Depends on the Area Comprising a Tissue Microarray’, Cancers, 12(3), p. 563. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cancers12030563.
3. Gruber, E.S. et al. (2020) ‘The Prognostic Index Independently Predicts Survival in Patients with Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Undergoing Resection’, Annals of Surgical Oncology, 27(6), pp. 2017–2024. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1245/s10434-019-08161-6.
4. Gruber, E. et al. (2019) ‘The Oncogene AF1Q is Associated with WNT and STAT Signaling and Offers a Novel Independent Prognostic Marker in Patients with Resectable Esophageal Cancer’, Cells, 8(11), p. 1357. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/cells8111357.
5. Gruber, E.S. et al. (2019) ‘Sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity are independent adverse prognostic factors in resectable pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma’, PLOS ONE. Edited by F.X. Real, 14(5), p. e0215915. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215915.