Project

PHENOMENA.2

Pharmacogenomics of opioids for cancer pain: a path to personalized medicine
Application Areas
Research Areas
Research Lines
Staff
WEBSITE

ITB Principal Investigator

Name

Pharmacogenomics of opioids for cancer pain: a path to personalized medicine

Acronym

PHENOMENA.2

Location

Segrate

Start Date

2026

End Date

2027

Funder

AIRC

Partners

Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, Milan (Italy); Norwegian University of Science and Technology of Trondheim, Trondheim (Norway); Dept. of Informatics, Systems and Communication of University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan (Italy); Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM, Helsinki, Finland).

This project focuses on cancer pain management, a key factor for patient quality of life, yet marked by significant variability in opioid response. Pharmacogenomics offers a promising path toward personalized therapies, but clinical implementation remains challenging. This study is an extension of the PHENOMENA study and aims to validate and functionally characterize genetic variants associated with opioid response identified in our previous GWAS and to complete a pilot analysis on response to palliative radiotherapy. Research will include replication in 500 new patients, polygenic risk score calculations, and functional analyses both in silico and in vitro, including CRISPR-based editing to assess variant effects on the OPRL1 gene. The ultimate goal is to identify predictive biomarkers and molecular mechanisms to advance precision medicine strategies for cancer pain management.