An INTERVIEW with Dr. Francesco Marincola
ESI Special Topics,
September 2005
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/melanoma/interviews/FrancescoMarincola.html
 ccording
to our analysis of melanoma research over the past decade, the
scientist ranked at #2 is Dr. Francesco Marincola, with 55
papers cited a total of 3,704 times to date. Three of his
papers appear on our listing of the 20 most-cited melanoma
papers over the past decade as well. In the ISI
Essential
Science Indicators
Web product, Dr. Marincola’s record includes 63 papers cited
a total of 2,955 times to date in the field of Clinical
Medicine and 51 papers cited a total of 2,204 times to date in
the field of Immunology. Dr. Marincola is Director of the
Immunogenetics Laboratory in the Department of Transfusion
Medicine at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of
Heath in Bethesda, Maryland. In the interview below, he talks
about his highly cited melanoma research.
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 Why,
in your view, is your work highly cited?
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“Research on melanoma, and in particular its immune biology, has dramatically advanced during the last two decades thanks to the identification of melanoma antigens recognized by T cells and by autologous antibodies.”
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I would not know, for sure. I hope it is cited because I have
tried very hard to publish solid data derived from direct human
observation useful for reference to other investigators. In
particular, by focusing our studies on humans we have provided
information that, though limited in its breadth because of the
intrinsic constraints of dealing with clinical material, is highly
relevant to human pathology.
What
are the circumstances which led you to your work?
I wanted to make a difference in the way people approach the
study of cancer in humans by focusing on strategies that could be
applied for direct ex vivo analysis of the systemic response
of the host to cancer and to the study of the tumor
microenvironment.
How
would you describe the significance of this work for your field?
I believe that what we have been developing can serve as a proof
of the principle that the direct study of humans and their diseases
in natural conditions or during treatment can yield important novel
information. This information can be used to frame and focus
experimental research according to the reality of human pathology.
In particular, the hypothesis-generating approach that we have
adopted has been very effective in identifying novel aspects of the
biology of human melanoma and excluding experimental hypotheses that
simply do not apply in the context of human disease.
How
much has this research advanced since you first started publishing on
it?
Research on melanoma, and in particular its immune biology, has
dramatically advanced during the last two decades thanks to the
identification of melanoma antigens recognized by T cells and by
autologous antibodies. This recognition of antigens and the
characterization of the immune response toward them have given
molecular accuracy to the field and allowed accurate evaluation of
the relationship between the host and cancer cells. This information
could in turn be utilized to understand the more basic concept of
human immune biology that might be applicable to allograft rejection
and some types of autoimmunity.
Where
do you see this research going 10 years from now?
I believe that the analysis on immune responses against melanoma,
and the comparative analysis of other tumor, allograft, and
autoimmune models, will yield information about the immunological
constant necessary for tissue-specific rejection and, as a
consequence, allow an informed and rational approach to therapy
against various diseases.
Francesco M. Marincola, M.D.
Department of Transfusion Medicine
Clinical Center, NIH
Bethesda, MD, USA
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ESI Special Topics,
September 2005
Citing URL - http://www.esi-topics.com/melanoma/interviews/FrancescoMarincola.html
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