Valentina Pedrelli

Valentina Pedrelli holds a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and a master’s degree in Molecular Biotechnology from the University of Pisa in conjunction with the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies.

She is currently working as a research assistant at the Pisa Foundation for Science (FPS), collaborating with Dr. Chiara Maria Mazzanti’s research group, which studies tumors, particularly glioblastoma and osteosarcoma.

Specifically, he is the operational manager for the clinical trial “Oxidative Phosphorylation Targeting In Malignant Glioma Using Metformin plus Radiotherapy Temozolomide” (OPTIMUM, ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04945148). This is a multicenter, international phase II clinical trial designed to evaluate the efficacy of the antimitochondrial action of metformin in addition to conventional first-line chemoradiotherapy in patients with de novo IDH wild-type glioblastoma (GBM) with mitochondrial hyperactivation (OXPHOS). The trial, which began on May 10, 2024, is sponsored by Hopital Foch, Suresnes, France, and coordinated by Dr. Anna Luisa Di Stefano (Hopital Foch, Suresnes, France/UOC Neurosurgery, Livorno Hospital, Azienda USL Toscana Nord-ovest).

The clinical trial involves the prospective selection of patients with de novo wild-type IDH GBM through a molecular analysis technique using RNA sequencing from FFPE tissues, capable of identifying the OXPHOS mitochondrial signature. A total of 640 cases of patients with de novo IDH wild-type GBM are expected to be screened in seven centers (H. Foch-Suresnes, Pitié-Salpêtrière-Paris, Saint Louis-Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Milan Besta, Livorno).