Alessio Giubellino

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Credentials

MD, PhD

Bio

Dr. Giubellino is an anatomic pathologist and dermatopathologist whose current research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms and signaling pathways in melanoma with the goal of developing predictive biomarkers and combination therapies for the disease. He employs molecular and cellular techniques and immunohistochemical analysis of tissue samples to bridge basic science and clinical medicine.Giubellino's research in Italy and at the National Cancer institute laid the foundation for his current studies of melanoma. With his colleagues, he investigated c-Met, a tyrosine-kinase receptor protein encoded by the MET gene. When bound by its ligand hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), c-Met activates a wide range of cellular signaling pathways including those important in cellular proliferation, motility, migration, and tissue development and invasion. Giubellino's chief interest is the growing evidence of c-Met's role in cancer metastasis, which can turn early-stage noninvasive in situ melanoma into a deadly disease. Although none has received FDA approval, c-Met inhibitors hold promise for arresting advanced metastasis and also minimal residual disease in which small numbers of melanoma cells with metastatic potential remain dormant in the patient following treatment. Melanoma is very complex disease with multiple chromosomal and genetic aberrations and a cascade of cell-signaling pathways. Giubellino is developing a research program designed to identify key molecules and pathways responsible for melanoma metastasis, use the data to subclassify the disease and stratify patients, and target and disrupt metastatic networks with small-molecule drugs. He and fellow researchers have investigated the effect of c-Met kinase receptor on downstream effectors such as Grb2 and adaptors proteins, signal transduction molecules that may serve as targets for small-molecule drug disruption of the signaling network. Giubellino's ultimate goal is to combine classical protein kinase receptor-targeted drug therapy with checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, which received FDA approval for metastatic melanoma in 2011. Molecular and cellular studies, animal testing, and human trials will determine whether the combination strategy Giubellino plans to undertake provides a therapeutic synergy that is superior to targeted therapy or immunotherapy alone. Giubellino's basic research investigation of metastatic melanoma networks dovetails with his clinical studies of patient samples. Results from immunohistochemical staining of tissue specimens can be correlated with results from molecular and genetic analysis, giving the dermatopathologist a more complete picture of the disease. Giubellino thinks this comprehensive approach will reveal predictive biomarkers in metastatic melanoma that can indicate whether and how a patient will respond to specific therapies, a key goal of personalized medicine.

Research Summary

Publications

Journal articles

• Cheng TW, Ahern MC, Giubellino A. The spectrum of Spitz melanocytic lesions: From morphologic diagnosis to molecular classification. Front Oncol. 2022 Jun 7;12:889223. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.889223.

• Ernst M, Giubellino A. The Current State of Treatment and Future Directions in Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma. Biomedicines. 2022 Mar 31;10(4):822. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines10040822.

• Song KY, Desar S, Pengo T, Shanley R, Giubellino A. Correlation of MET and PD-L1 expression in malignant melanoma. Cancers (Basel). 2020;12(7):E1847. Published 2020 Jul 9.
• Kwon D, Ronen S, Giubellino A, et al. Cutaneous adnexal carcinosarcoma: immunohistochemical and molecular evidence of epithelial mesenchymal transition [published online ahead of print, 2020 Jun 21]. J Cutan Pathol. 2020
• Zhou Y, Song KY, Giubellino A. The Role of MET in melanoma and melanocytic lesions. Am J Pathol. 2019 Nov;189(11):2138-2148.
• Santiago V, Cartwright D, Khoshnoodi P, Klein M, Giubellino A. A Case of tumor of follicular infundibulum involving the vulva. Case Rep Pathol. 2019 Jan 28;2019:4606493. doi: 10.1155/2019/4606493. 
• Domingo-Musibay E, Murugan P, Giubellino A, Sharma S, Steinberger D, Yuan J, Hunt MA, Lou E, Miller JS.  Near complete response to Pembrolizumab in microsatellite-stable metastatic sebaceous carcinoma.
  J Immunother Cancer. 2018 Jun 19;6(1):58. doi: 10.1186/s40425-018-0357-3.

Book chapters

• Elgart GW, Giubellino A – Acanthomas chapter – WHO / IARC Classification of Tumours – Pathology and Genetics of Skin Tumours, 4^th Edition (in preparation – scheduled for publication in 2018)