Publications, Grants & Patents

Explore a comprehensive collection of research articles, reviews, editorials, grants, and patents authored and co-authored by Professor Marco Falasca and collaborators. This section showcases peer-reviewed contributions spanning cancer biology, extracellular vesicles, lipid signaling, cannabinoid research, and other cutting-edge biomedical topics, along with funded research projects and intellectual property achievements. Direct links to full-text resources are provided where available.

2025

Falasca M. Special issue entitled lipids in cancer biology by Marco Falasca. Biochim Biophys Acta Mol Cell Biol Lipids. 2025 Aug;1870(6):159653.

Nelen J, Naponelli V, Villalgordo-Soto JM, Falasca M, Pérez-Sánchez H. Targeting Drug Resistance in Cancer: Dimethoxycurcumin as a Functional Antioxidant Targeting ABCC3. Antioxidants (Basel). 2025 May 16;14(5):599.

Panda A, Ragunath K, Pajic M, Greening DW, Falasca M. Oncogenic proteome of pancreatic cancer extracellular vesicles: sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter as a potential marker. Signal Transduct Target Ther. 2025 May 7;10(1):148.

Malhotra P, Fyfe J, Emmanouilidi A, Casari I, Mellett NA, Huynh K, Pajic M, Greening DW, Meikle PJ, Falasca M. Oncogenic small extracellular vesicles enriched in sphingosine-1-phosphate play a crucial role in pancreatic cancer progression. Cell Signal. 2025 Mar 28:111775.

Thapa D, Patil M, Warne LN, Carlessi R, Falasca M. Enhancing Tetrahydrocannabinol’s Therapeutic Efficacy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: The Roles of Cannabidiol and the Cannabinoid 1 Receptor Allosteric Modulator ZCZ011. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2025 Jan 23;18(2):148.

Parham E, Ahmad M, Falasca M. Haematological Manifestations of SARS-CoV-2: Insights into Erythropoiesis, Hepcidin Regulation, and Cytokine Storm. Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jan 21;26(3):874.

2024

Thapa D, Patil M, Warne LN, Carlessi R, Falasca M. Comprehensive Assessment of Cannabidiol and HU308 in Acute and Chronic Colitis Models: Efficacy, Safety, and Mechanistic Innovations. Cells. 2024 Dec 5;13(23):2013.

Patil M, Thapa D, Warne LN, Lareu RR, Dallerba E, Lian J, Massi M, Carlessi R, Falasca M. Chronic metabolic effects of novel gut-oriented small-molecule GPR119 agonists in diet-induced obese mice. Biomed Pharmacother. 2024 Nov 19;181:117675.

Falasca M, Manfredi M. Extracellular vesicles and biomarker discovery. Semin Cancer Biol. 2024 Sep 6;106-107:103-105.

Patil M, Casari I, Thapa D, Warne LN, Dallerba E, Massi M, Carlessi R, Falasca M. Preclinical pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and toxicity of novel small-molecule GPR119 agonists to treat type-2 diabetes and obesity. Biomed Pharmacother. 2024 Jul 4;177:117077.

Panda A, Falasca M, Ragunath K. Extracellular vesicles in pancreatic cancer: a new era in precision medicine. Transl Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024 Apr 10;9:29.

Vaiaki EM, Falasca M. Comparative Analysis of the Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles Guidelines: Advancements and Implications for Extracellular Vesicle Research. Semin Cancer Biol. 2024 Apr 22:S1044-579X(24)00033-6.

Perera CJ, Hosen SZ, Khan T, Fang H, Mekapogu AR, Xu Z, Falasca M, Chari ST, Wilson JS, Pirola R, Greening DW, Apte MV. Proteomic profiling of small extracellular vesicles derived from mouse pancreatic cancer and stellate cells: Role in pancreatic cancer. Proteomics. 2024 Apr 3:e2300067.

Palanisamy R, Indrajith Kahingalage N, Archibald D, Casari I, Falasca M. Synergistic Anticancer Activity of Plumbagin and Xanthohumol Combination on Pancreatic Cancer Models. Int J Mol Sci. 2024 Feb 16;25(4):2340.

Welsh JA, et. al. Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches. J Extracell Vesicles. 2024 Feb;13(2):e12404.

Patil M, Casari I, Warne LN, Falasca M. G protein-coupled receptors driven intestinal glucagon-like peptide-1 reprogramming for obesity: Hope or hype? Biomed Pharmacother. 2024 Feb 9;172:116245.

2023

Thapa D, Warne LN, Falasca M. Pharmacohistory of Cannabis Use-A New Possibility in Future Drug Development for Gastrointestinal Diseases. Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Sep 28;24(19):14677.

Fyfe J, Dye D, Razak NBA, Metharom P, Falasca M. Immune evasion on the nanoscale: Small extracellular vesicles in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma immunity. Semin Cancer Biol. 2023 Sep 23;96:36-47.

Malhotra P, Palanisamy R, Caparros-Martin JA, Falasca M. Cancers (Basel). Bile Acids and Microbiota Interplay in Pancreatic Cancer. 2023 Jul 11;15(14):3573.

Malhotra P, Casari I, Falasca M. Can the molecules carried by extracellular vesicles help to diagnose pancreatic cancer early? Biochim Biophys Acta Gen Subj. 2023 May 24:130387.

Abu Bakar NDB, Carlessi R, Gogoi-Tiwari J, Köhn-Gaone J, Williams V, Falasca M, Olynyk JK, Ramm GA, Tirnitz-Parker JEE. TWEAK/Fn14 Signalling Regulates the Tissue Microenvironment in Chronic Pancreatitis. Cancers (Basel). 2023 Mar 16;15(6):1807.

De Giorgis V, Barberis E, Falasca M and Manfredi M. In-Depth Proteomic Analysis of Blood Circulating Small Extracellular Vesicles. Methods in Molecular Biology, 2023 2628:279-289.

Fyfe J, Malhotra P and Falasca M. Modified lipidomic profile of cancer-associated Small Extracellular Vesicles facilitates tumorigenic behaviours and contributes to disease progression. Advances in Biological Regulation, 2023 Jan; 87:100935.

Fyfe J, Casari I, Manfredi M, Falasca M. Role of lipid signalling in extracellular vesicles-mediated cell-to-cell communication. Cytokine Growth Factor Rev. 2023 Oct;73:20-26.

2022

Selvaggi F, Melchiorre E, Casari I, Cinalli S, Cinalli M, Aceto GA, Cotellese R, Garajova I and Falasca M. Perineural Invasion in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: from Molecules towards Drugs of Clinical Relevance. Cancers, 2022 Nov 24; 14(23):5793.

Barberis E, Khoso S, Sica A, Falasca M, Gennari A, Dondero F, Afantitis A, Manfredi M. Precision Medicine Approaches with Metabolomics and Artificial Intelligence. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 24;23(19):11269.

Lee YT, Tan YJ, Mok PY, Kaur G, Sreenivasan S, Falasca M, Oon CE. Sex-divergent expression of cytochrome P450 and SIRTUIN 1-7 proteins in toxicity evaluation of a benzimidazole-derived epigenetic modulator in mice. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2022 Jun 15;445:116039.

Falasca V, Falasca M. Targeting the Endocannabinoidome in Pancreatic Cancer. Biomolecules. 2022 Feb 17;12(2):320.

Casari I, Emmanouilidi A, Domenichini A, Falasca M. Extracellular vesicles derived from pancreatic cancer cells are enriched in the growth factor Midkine. Adv Biol Regul. 2022 Jan;83:100857.

Lian J, Casari I, Falasca M. Modulatory role of the endocannabinoidome in the pathophysiology of the gastrointestinal tract. Pharmacol Res. 2022 Jan;175:106025.

2021

Manfredi M, Williams E, Cho WC, Falasca M. Editorial: Recent Advances in In Vitro and In Vivo Multi-Omics Analyses of Extracellular Vesicles: Therapeutic Targets and Biomarkers. Front Mol Biosci. 2021 Oct 27;8:784436.

Perera CJ, Falasca M, Chari ST, Greenfield JR, Xu Z, Pirola RC, Wilson JS, Apte MV. Role of Pancreatic Stellate Cell-Derived Exosomes in Pancreatic Cancer-Related Diabetes: A Novel Hypothesis. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Oct 18;13(20):5224.

Malhotra P, Palanisamy R, Falasca M. Targeting pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: New therapeutic options for the ongoing battle. Hepatobiliary Pancreat Dis Int. 2022 Feb;21(1):4-

Falasca M, Maccarrone M. Cannabinoids and Cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Sep 4;13(17):4458.

Paternoster S, Simpson PV, Kokh E, Kizilkaya HS, Rosenkilde MM, Mancera RL, Keating DJ, Massi M, Falasca M. Pharmacological and structure-activity relationship studies of oleoyl-lysophosphatidylinositol synthetic mimetics. Pharmacol Res. 2021 Aug 16;172:105822.

Cameron K, Rozano L, Falasca M, Mancera RL. Does the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor binding domain interact effectively with the DPP4 (CD26) receptor? A molecular docking study. Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Jun 29;22(13):7001.

Casari I, Howard JA, Robless EE, Falasca M. Exosomal integrins and their influence on pancreatic cancer progression and metastasis. Cancer Lett. 2021 Jun 1;507:124-134.

Lee XC, Werner E, Falasca M. Molecular Mechanism of Autophagy and Its Regulation by Cannabinoids in Cancer. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Mar 10;13(6):1211.

Barberis E, Vanella VV, Falasca M, Caneapero V, Cappellano G, Raineri D, Ghirimoldi M, De Giorgis V, Puricelli C, Vaschetto R, Sainaghi PP, Bruno S, Sica A, Dianzani U, Rolla R, Chiocchetti A, Cantaluppi V, Baldanzi G, Marengo E, Manfredi M. Circulating Exosomes Are Strongly Involved in SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Front Mol Biosci. 2021 Feb 22;8:632290.

Casari I, Manfredi M, Metharom P, Falasca M. Dissecting lipid metabolism alterations in SARS-CoV-2. Prog Lipid Res. 2021 Feb 8:101092.

Malhotra P, Casari I, Falasca M. Therapeutic potential of cannabinoids in combination cancer therapy. Adv Biol Regul. 2021 Jan;79:100774.

Robless EE, Howard JA, Casari I, Falasca M. Exosomal long non-coding RNAs in the diagnosis and oncogenesis of pancreatic cancer. Cancer Lett. 2021 Mar 31;501:55-65.

Explore all of Marco’s publications by clicking here.

Grants

Grant funding received: Several competitive grants obtained in Australia, UK and Italy from national, European, and American agencies, including European Union, Worldwide Cancer Research, American Institute for Cancer Research, British Heart Foundation, Diabetes UK. In addition, Marco received four consecutive grants funded by Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund from 2008 to 2014. Recent research support includes:

Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation Accelerator Grant, “A novel therapeutic target in pancreatic cancer: Implications for therapy and diagnosis” $674,252, 2017-2019.

Diabetes Australia, “Development of novel GLP-1 releasing agents” $60,000, 2017.

Prostate Cancer UK, “Role of phosphoinositide 3-kinase C2beta in prostate cancer” £213,740, 2014-2018. (co-PI with Dr Tania Maffucci).

Medical and Health Research Infrastructure Fund (MHRIF) 2019 Round 23 “Investigation of the microbiome/bile acid/cannabinoid interplay”.

PanKind Australian Pancreatic Cancer Foundation Innovation Grant, “Can the molecules carried by exosomes help to diagnose pancreatic cancer early?” $100,000, 2022.

Industry Sponsorship of a PhD studentship plus 45,000$ consumables for three years funded by AB Analitica (total 120,000$). “Investigation of novel biomarkers for pancreatic cancer”.

Industry Sponsorship from 2017 to 2020 of 400,000 $ funded by Zelda Therapeutics. “Testing CBD-rich and THC-rich whole plant extracts in human pancreatic cancer”.

“Targeting the endocannabinoidome as a novel therapeutic target in modulation of Gastrointestinal diseases" Industry Sponsorship from 2020 to 2023 of 240,150 $ funded by Little Green Pharma.

Industry Sponsorship from 2021 to 2023 of 390,000 $ funded by Little Green Pharma. “Cannabinoids as treatment for obesity and related disorders”.

Additional ongoing industry Sponsorship from Backreef Oil LTD and Firstlight Pharmaceuticals.

POLIBIOSAN: Research, development and marketing of a pool of molecules derived from olive pomace.

Patents

Novel inositol phosphate derivatives. Marco Falasca, Andrew Michael Riley, Himali Yasmin Godage, Barry Victor Lloyd Potter. WO 2011064559 A3 2011

PCT Int. Appl. (2018), WO 2018170553 A1 20180927; M. Massi, P. V. Simpson, M. Falasca: “Complexes and uses thereof”, describing the use of organometallic rhenium complexes as anticancer agents.

PCT/AU2018/050941; P. Simpson, M. Massi, M. Falasca: “Synthetic derivatives of oleoyllysophosphatidylinositol (oleoyl-LPI) and uses thereof”, describing the use of synthetic analogues of oleyl-LPIas agonist for the GPR119 receptor.