Dr Carmela Ricciardelli

Biography/ Background

Current Appointments

• Research Fellow, Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Adelaide

• Member of Research Centre for Reproductive Health, one of the constituent research centres for the Robinson Institute

• Group Leader for Reproductive Cancer

• Postgraduate Coordinator for Discipline of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University of Adelaide

Research Interests

Dr Ricciardelli a cancer cell biologist; joined the Department in April 2005. Dr Ricciardelli was awarded her Ph D in 1996 (Flinders University) and has undertaken postdoctoral studies in the Department of Surgery, Flinders Medical Centre, South Australia (1996-2001) and Dame Roma Mitchell Cancer Research Laboratories, Hanson Institute, South Australia (2002-2005). She was awarded a Senior Fellowship with Cancer Council of South Australia (2004-2006). In 2005 Dr Ricciardelli was awarded a Tall Poppy Award for outstanding achievement in the field of biomedical and clinical science. In 2007 she was the recipient of the highly competitive Hilda Farmer Fellowship in Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Adelaide which has enabled her to build a Reproductive cancer research group in the Discipline of O&G, University of Adelaide.

 

Dr Ricciardelli's research program has focused on hormone-regulated proteins and prognostic markers in breast and prostate cancer. Using a novel approach in her postdoctoral studies by examining the non-cancer stromal cells which surround the cancer cells, Dr Ricciardelli was the first researcher to identify that the expression of the extracellular matrix protein, versican correlated with cancer spread in prostate and breast cancer. This was an exciting and unique discovery that has lead to versican expression being examined in many different cancer types. Versican is a molecule known to regulate cellular movement at critical periods in the developing embryo, and control the movement of normal smooth muscle cells, nerves and fibroblasts. Dr Ricciardelli's recent studies suggest that cancer cells can utilize stromally derived versican to aid their movement.

Dr Ricciardelli current research focuses on further understanding the cross-talk between breast and ovarian cancer cells and the tumour microevironement. Dr Ricciardelli is currently studying the interactions between peritoneal and ovarian cancers and the mechanisms whereby versican and the adamalysin-thrombospondin (ADAMTS) family of metalloproteinases, promote motility and tumor spread of breast prostate and ovarian cancer.

 

Publications

Ricciardelli C, Mayne K, Sykes PJ, Raymond WA, Skinner JM, Tilley WD, McCaul K, Marshall VR and Horsfall DJ. Elevated stromal chondroitin sulphate glycosaminoglycan predicts progression in early stage prostate cancer. Clinical Cancer Res, 3: 983-992, 1997 (impact factor 6.488, citations=29)

Ricciardelli C, Mayne K, Sykes PJ, Raymond WA, McCaul K, Marshall VR and Horsfall DJ.  Elevated levels of versican but not decorin predict disease progression in early stage prostate cancer.  Clin Cancer Res 4: 963-971, 1998 (impact factor 6.488, citations= 70)

Ricciardelli C, Quinn DI, Raymond WA, McCaul K, Sutherland PD, Stricker PD, Grygiel JJ, Sutherland RL, Marshall VR, Tilley WD, Horsfall DH.  Elevated levels of peritumoral chondroitin sulfate are predictive of poor prognosis in patients treated by radical prostatectomy for early stage prostate cancer.  Cancer Res 59:2324-2328, 1999 (IF 7.514, citations=25)

Sakko AJ, Ricciardelli C, Mayne K, Tilley WD, LeBaron RG and Horsfall DJ. Versican accumulation in human prostatic fibroblast cultures is enhanced by prostate cancer cell-derived transforming growth factor β1. Cancer Res 61: 926-930, 2001 (IF 7.514, citations=46)

Jackson MW, Roberts JS, Heckford SE, Ricciardelli C, Stahl J, Choong CS, Horsfall DJ, Tilley WD. A potential autocrine role for vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in prostate cancer. Cancer Res., 62: 854-9, 2002 (IF 7.514, citations = 96)

Ricciardelli C, Brooks, JH, Suwiwat S, Sakko AJ, Mayne K, Raymond WA, Seshadri R, LeBaron RG, Horsfall DJ. Regulation of stromal versican levels by breast cancer cells and importance to relapse free survival in patients with node negative primary breast cancer. Clin. Cancer Res 8:1054-1060, 2002 (IF 6.488, citations=43)

Sakko AJ^#, Ricciardelli C^#, Mayne K, LeBaron RG, Marshall VR, Tilley WD, Horsfall DJ. Differential modulation of prostate cancer cell attachment to matrix components by prostate fibroblast conditioned medium. Cancer Res. 63: 4786-4791. 2003 (IF 7.514, citations= 26), ^#contributed equally

Suwiwat S^#, Ricciardelli C^#, Tammi R, Tammi M, Auvinen P, Kosma V-M,. LeBaron RG, Raymond WA, Tilley WD and. Horsfall DJ. Expression of extracellular matrix components versican, chondroitin sulfate, tenascin, and hyaluronan, and their association with disease outcome in node-negative breast cancer. Clinical Cancer Res 10: 2491-2498, 2004 (IF 6.488, citations=32), ^#contributed equally

Jia L, Choong CS-Y, Ricciardelli C, Tilley WD, Coetzee GA. Androgen receptor signalling: Mechanism of interleukin-6 inhibition. Cancer Research 64: 2619-2626, 2004 (IF 7.514, citations= 34)

Ricciardelli C, Choong CS-Y, Buchanan G, Vivekanandan S Neufing P, Stahl J, Marshall VR, Horsfall DJ and Tilley WD. Androgen receptor levels in prostate cancer epithelial and peritumoral stromal cells identify non-organ confined disease. Prostate, 63: 19-28, 2005 (IF 3.069, citations=28)

Buchanan, G., Birrell, S. N., Peters, A. A., Bianco-Miotto, T., Ramsay, K., Cops, E. J., Yang, M., Harris, J. M., Simila, H. A., Moore, N. L., Bentel, J. M., Ricciardelli, C., Horsfall, D. J., Butler, L. M., and Tilley, W. D. Decreased androgen receptor levels and receptor function in breast cancer contribute to the failure of response to medroxyprogesterone acetate. Cancer Res, 65: 8487-8496, 2005 (IF 7.514, citations=25)

Butler, L. M., Centenera, M., Neufing, P. J., Buchanan, G., Choong, C. S., Ricciardelli, C., Saint, K., Lee, M., Ochnik, A., Yang, M., Brown, M. P., and Tilley, W. D. Suppression of androgen receptor signaling in prostate cancer cells by an inhibitory receptor variant. Mol Endocrinol, 20:1009-24, 2006 (IF 5.389, citations=7)

Sakko AJ, Ricciardelli C, Dours-Zimmermann MT, Zimmermann DR, Neufing N, Tilley WD Marshall VR and Horsfall DJ. Changes in steroid receptors and proteoglycan expression in the guinea pig prostate stroma during puberty and hormone manipulation. Prostate 67: 288-300, 2007, (IF 3.069, citation=2).

Ricciardelli C, Russell D, Ween MP, Mayne K, Byers S, VR Marshall, Tilley WD and Horsfall DJ. Formation of hyaluronan-and versican- rich pericellular matrix by prostate cancer cells promotes cell motility J Biol Chem 282:10814-10825, 2007 (IF 5.520, citations=24)

Buchanan G, Ricciardelli C, Harris JM, Prescott J, Chiao-Li Yu Z, Jia L, Butler LM, Marshall VR, Scher HI, Gerald WL, Coetzee GA & Tilley WD. Control of Androgen Receptor Signaling by the Cochaperone, Small Glutamine-Rich Tetratricopeptide Repeat Containing Protein Alpha. Cancer Res 67: 10087-10096, 2007 (IF 7.514, citation=7).

Ricciardelli C, Jackson M, Choong CS, Stahl J Marshall VR, Horsfall DJ  and Tilley WD. Elevated levels of HER-2/neu and androgen receptor in clinically localized prostate cancer identifies metastatic potential Prostate 68: 830-838, 2008 (IF 3.069, citations=6).

Sakko AJ, Butler MS, Byers S, Reinboth BJ, Stahl J, Kench JG, Horvath LG, Sutherland  RL, Stricker PD, Henshall SM, Marshall VR, Tilley WD, Horsfall DJ & Ricciardelli C. Immunohistochemical level of unsulfated chondroitin disaccharides in the cancer stroma is an independent predictor of prostate cancer relapse. Cancer Biomarkers, Epidemiology & Prevention, 17: 2488-2497, 2008 (IF 4.770, citations=2).

Ricciardelli C, Sakko AJ, Stahl J, Tilley WD, Marshall VR & Horsfall DJ. Prostatic chondroitin sulfate is increased in patients with metastatic disease but does not predict survival outcome.  Prostate 69:761-9, 2009 (IF 3.069).

Peters AA, Buchanan G, Ricciardelli C, Bianco-Miotto T, Jindal S, Centenera MM, Harris JM, Segara D, Jia L, Moore NL, Henshell SM, Coetzee GA, Sutherland RL, Butler LM & Tilley WD. Androgen receptor inhibits estrogen receptor-alpha activity and is prognostic in breast cancer. Cancer Research 69: 6131-6140, 2009 (IF 7.514, citations=3).

Callen DF, Ricciardelli C, Butler M, Stapleton A, Stahl J, Kench JG, Horsfall DJ Tilley WD, Schulz1 R, Nesland JM, Neilsen PM, Kumar R and holm R. Co-expression of the androgen receptor and the transcription factor ZNF652 is related to prostate cancer outcome. Oncology Reports 23: 1045-1052, 2010 (IF 1.52).

Ricciardelli C^# Bianco-Miotto T^#, Jindal S, Dodd TJ Cohen PA, Marshall VR, Sutherland PD, Samaratunga H, Kench JG, Dong Y, Wang H, Clements JA,  Risbridger GP, Tilley WD, Horsfall DJ and the Australian Prostate Cancer BioResource.  Comparative Biomarker Expression and RNA Integrity in Biospecimens Derived from Radical Retropubic and Robot Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomies.  Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention (EPI-10-0059. Accepted 16/04/10 (in press), IF 4.770, ^# contributed equally

Ween MP, Lokman, NA, Hoffmann P, Rodgers RJ, Ricciardelli C* & Oehler MK*. Transforming growth factor-beta induced protein (TGFBIp) secreted by peritoneal cells increases the metastatic potential of ovarian cancer cells (submitted to International Journal Cancer, IJC-09-2382, IF 4.734 (in press), *co-directed

Ricciardelli C^, Frewin KM, Tan IA, Williams ED, Opeskin K, Pritchard MA, Ingman WV and Russell DL. The Adamts1 protease gene is required for mammary tumor growth and metastasis. (Submitted to Oncogene, ONC-2009-02438, IF 7.216 (in revision)

Invited Review articles

Ricciardelli C & Rodgers RJ Matrix of ovarian tumours. Seminars in Reproductive Medicine 24:270-82, 2006, (IF 3.051, citations=14)

Ricciardelli C, Sakko AJ, Ween MP, Russell DL & Horsfall DJ. The biological role and regulation of versican levels in cancer. Cancer and Metastasis Reviews 28:233-45, 2009 (IF 6.766, citations=2)

Ricciardelli C & Oehler MK. Diverse molecular pathways in ovarian cancer and their clinical significance. Maturitas 62:270-5, 2009 (IF 2.032)

 

Invited Book chapter

Ricciardelli C, Sakko AJ, Ween MP, l Russell DL & Horsfall DJ. The proteoglycan versican: an important regulator of cell locomotion in development and disease. In “Cell Movement: New Research Trends”. Nova Science Publishers, Inc. Hauppauge, NY. Accepted 1st August 2008, Pub. Date: 2009 - 3rd Quarter, ISBN: 978-1-60692-570-6.

Entry last updated: Wednesday, 19 Sep 2012