Paolo Onori

Research

SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES

P. Onori’s research interests include the study of the structural, ultrastructural, immunohistochemical, and microcirculatory characteristics of the liver and biliary system, under normal and experimental conditions, in animal models and humans.

Most significant findings:

- the definition of the 3-dimensional morphology of hepatic microcirculation and extrahepatic biliary system and the demonstration of the importance of microvascularization in the maintenance of normal metabolic zonation of the hepatic acinus; - the demonstration of the presence of estrogen receptors α and β and VEGF receptors at the level of cholangiocytes, and their increased expression in cholangiocytes in secondary biliary cirrhosis; - the demonstration of the presence of a) IGF1 receptors in the course of secondary biliary cirrhosis and human cholangiopathies, and b) the role of IGF1 in bile when differentiating extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma from other causes of obstructive cholestasis; - the finding of a role in the growth of cholangiocarcinoma for a) H3 histamine receptor, b) Caffeic Acid Phenethyi Ester, c) Secretin; - the role of Neurokinin-1 receptor and Histamine on the proliferation of cholangiocytes in the bile ducts. - the localization and the definition of mechanisms regulating the proliferation and death of the resident progenitor/stem cells localization and activation in the liver.

These projects were run in collaboration with major national and international research groups: 1) Prof. Eugenio Gaudio, Department of Anatomical, Histological, Forensic Medicine, and Orthopedic Sciences, “Sapienza” University of Rome, Italy; 2) Prof. Gianfranco ALPINI, Indiana University, IU School of Medicine, IN- USA; 3) Prof. Heather Francis, Texas A&M University, Digestive Disease Research Center (DDRC), Temple, Texas USA.