Professor of Biochemistry, Dipartimento di Chimica Biologica, Università di Napoli Federico II.

Research
Protein engineering for the construction of biologically active proteins. Construction and characterization of antitumor immunoagents.
Construction and characterization of antitumor ribonucleases.

Selected publications
Spalletti-Cernia D, Sorrentino R, Di Gaetano S, Arciello A, Garbi C, Piccoli R, D’Alessio G, Vecchio G, Laccetti P, Santoro M. Antineoplastic ribonucleases selectively kill thyroid carcinoma cells via caspase-mediated induction of apoptosis. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2003;88:2900-7.

De Lorenzo C, Palmer DB, Piccoli R, Ritter MA, D’Alessio G. A new human antitumor immunoreagent specific for ErbB2. Clin Cancer Res 2002;8:1710-19.

De Lorenzo C, Nigro A, Piccoli R, D’Alessio G. A new RNase-based immunoconjugates selectively cytotoxic for ErbB2-overexpressing cells. FEBS Lett 2002;516:208-12.

Di Gaetano S, D’Alessio G, Piccoli R. A second generation human antitumour RNase. Significance of its structural and functional features for the mechanism of antitumour action. Biochem J 2000;358:241-7.

Piccoli R, Di Gaetano S, De Lorenzo C, Grauso M, Monaco C, Spalletti-Cernia D, Laccetti P, Cinatl J, Matousek J, D’Alessio G. A dimeric mutant of human pancreatic ribonuclease with selective cytotoxicity towards malignant cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 1999;96:7768-77.