Research team Tsybrovskyy

RESEARCH FOCUS: CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL THYROID PATHOLOGY

PI: Oleksiy Tsybrovskyy

Focus: The research team is engaged in the histological, immunohistochemical, and molecular characterization of thyroid tumors in correlation with their biological and clinical behavior. There is a particular focus on the diagnosis and significance of oncocytic changes. Another focus is on establishing xenografts of differentiated (papillary and follicular) thyroid carcinomas from native, surgically obtained tumor tissue.

Networking: We cooperate with Andrea Simon, Valerie Fanny Wienerroither, Barbara Obermayer-Pietsch, Stefan Pilz, Christian Trummer, Verena Theiler-Schwetz, and Christian Gstettner.

Projects

Exploring new personalized treatment strategies in myxofibrosarcoma

Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a rare and heterogeneous group of malignant mesenchymal tumors that are traditionally classified according to their morphology and the type of tissue they resemble. Myxofibrosarcomas (MFS) are the most common sarcoma subtype in older patients. Although they have a distinctive morphology, they lack a specific immunohistochemical expression profile and genetic fingerprint. In up to 50-60% of cases, MFS patients experience local tumor recurrence that is unrelated to histological grade, and low-grade lesions can become higher grade and thus acquire metastatic potential. Our goal is to expand knowledge of the molecular landscape of MFS and, based on differences in epigenetic heterogeneity, investigate associations with genetic and clinical data.
Duration: 2018-2021
Funded by: Medical University of Graz (joint research project)
Project partners: Diagnostic and Research Institute for Human Genetics: (E. Heitzer, S. Hasenleithner)

Xenograft model of thyroid tumors obtained directly from patients in an animal model

The aim of this project is to establish as many xenografts as possible from native, freshly surgically obtained human thyroid tumors (known as “patient-derived xenografts,” or PDX) in an animal model. The decisive advantage of PDX over conventional models from cell cultures lies in their much better reproduction of the biology of human tumors. They therefore currently represent the best platform for testing antitumor substances. However, PDX do not yet exist for differentiated thyroid tumors. In our pilot study, we were able to achieve a very high (over 90%) success rate of PDX from thyroid tumors with the help of specific treatment of the recipient animals. In the current project, the implantation protocol will first be optimized for practicality. Subsequently, as many PDXs as possible (up to 40) from differentiated thyroid tumors will be established and comprehensively characterized in order to create a basis for further experiments (e.g., sensitivity testing of the tumors to certain drugs).
Duration: 2024-2026
Funded by: Medical University of Graz
Project partners: Andrea Simon, Valerie Fanny Wienerroither, Barbara Obermayer-Pietsch, Stefan Pilz, Christian Trummer, Christian Gstettner, Peter Regitnig, Luca Abete, Martina Rößmann-Tsybrovskyy, Kerstin Murgg, Felix Aigner, Alexander Gräfitsch, Martin Mitteregger.

Diagnostic and Research Institute of Pathology

Oleksiy Tsybrovskyy

T: +43 316 385 71717

E: o.tsybrovskyy(at)medunigraz.at

Research profile