Claudio Brancolini research area is in the field of the cellular and molecular biology of proliferation. He made major contributions in understanding the growth arrest state and apoptosis.

The five major scientific accomplishments are:

1. Identification and characterization of genes that mark the quiescent state (Gas-Growth
Arrest Specific genes). First evidence pointing to the non-proliferative state, as a regulated
cellular response (Brancolini C, et al. J Cell Biol 1992; Brancolini C and Schneider C. Proc
Natl Acad Sci U S A 1991; US Patent number 5538861).

2. Identification of the third caspase substrate in Gas2. Identification and characterization of
additional caspase substrates (b-catenin, g-catenin/plakoglobin and HDAC4). He contributed
in understanding caspase activities/regulation during apoptosis, including the development of
an assay to monitor caspase activity in vivo (Brancolini C, et al. EMBO J 1995; Brancolini
C, et al. J Cell Biol 1997; Henderson CJ, et al. Cell Death Differ 2005).

3. Identification and characterization of new inhibitors of the ubiquitin-proteasome system as
new pro-apoptotic drugs. These inhibitors are commercially available (for preclinical studies).
He optimized these compounds for in vivo delivering and these new versions show interesting
anti-cancer activity in preclinical models (Aleo E, et al. Cancer Res 2006; Potu H, et al.
Cancer Res 2010; Cersosimo U, et al. J Med Chem 2015).

4. Definition of the pro-oncogenic roles of the MEF2-class IIa HDACs axis particularly in
soft-tissue sarcomas. He defined the regulation of class IIa HDACs in response to
microenvironmental signals. Claudio Brancolini proved for the first time the oncogenic
potential of these epigenetic regulators and, using the CRISPR/Cas9 technology, their key
roles in human cancer cells (Di Giorgio E, et al. Mol Cell Biol 2013; Di Giorgio E, et al. PLoS
Genet 2017; Cutano V, et al. Mol Oncol 2019).

5. First mapping of the genomic and epigenomic functions of MEF2 and class IIa HDACs,
particularly in leiomyosarcoma (Di Giorgio E, et al. Nucleic Acids Res 2020).