SCV0479 - PATHOLOGY

insegnamento

ID:

SCV0479

Durata (ore):

48

CFU:

SSD:

PATOLOGIA GENERALE

Anno:

2025

Periodo di attività

Primo Semestre (23/09/2025 - 17/01/2026)

Obiettivi Formativi

The course introduces the students to the understanding of the mechanisms and phenomena underlying human pathologies. In particular, the course will allow the students to know the cellular and molecular alterations of the state of health; to know the main exogenous and endogenous drivers of disease; to know the fundamental mechanisms of disease and the biological mechanisms of defense, adaptation to damage, regeneration, and repair. At the end of the course the student must understand how: i) the etiological agents of disease, whether of an exogenous or endogenous nature, are translated into pathological events through complex cellular and molecular mechanisms. ii) these mechanisms determine the organism's response to damage: adaptation, cell death. iii) the state of disease results from the interaction of the causes with the body's cellular and molecular regulatory mechanisms. iv) the triggering of the pathophysiological regulatory circuits generating/contributing the general pathology.

Prerequisiti

Students are required to possess the basic principles of the following fields: cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, immunology. Givene the relevance of possessing a proper backgrounf in immunology, necessary to hattend the lessons, a quick refresh of basic immunology will be provided.

Metodi didattici

The course objectives will be achieved through frontal lessons and seminars for a total of 48 hours. Given the extended area and complexity of the topics and the rapid evolution of modern pathology, the attendance to the lessons is highly recommended.

Verifica Apprendimento

The student must pass an oral exam that concerns questions related to the theoretical aspects of general pathology; knowledge acquisition and understanding (40%) and application of the knowledge acquired (30%), making judgments (10%), communication skills (10%) and learning ability (10%). Precision in terminology and content correctness are required to pass the exam. Ability to integrate the different knowledge acquired and contents will be considered to get higher marks (29-30 and honors).

Contenuti

Overview on basic pathology: aetiology, cell damages (membrane, mytocondia, lysosmes, RER, nucleous). Cell adaptation mechanisms: Hyperplasia, Hypertrophy, Atrophy (hypotrophy and hypoplasia), Metaplasia, Dysplasia, Anaplasia. Cell death: necrosis, regulated cell deaths.

Intracellular accumulations.

Overview on basic immunology: Innate Immunity. General overview of Innate immunity: Physical barriers, cytokines, chemokines, cell subpopulations (monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, dendritic cells, NK cells, MDSCs). Adaptive Immunity. General overview of Innate immunity: innate Vs adaptive immunity, to antigen presentation, structure and function of antibodies, B-cells, Plasma cells, major T-cell subsets (TH1, TH2, TH17, Treg).

Acute inflammation: vascular events, immunological events, chemical mediators. Patterns of acute inflammation. Cellular and molecular mechanisms of cell migration. Chronic inflammation: cellular and molecular mediators, systemic effects of inflammation, consequences of defective or excessive inflammation. Fibrosis with a focus on cardiac fibrosis (cellular and molecular drivers).

Vasculogenesis and angiogenesis. Tumor angiogenesis.

Tissue renewal, regeneration, and repair. Mechanisms of tissue and organ regeneration: cellular, molecular and biochemical mediators.

Hemodynamic disorders: edema, hyperemia and congestion, hemorrhage, homeostasis and thrombosis, embolism, infarction, shock.

Atherosclerosis (ATS): cellular and molecular mechanisms. Immunology of ATS. Asymptomatic Vs symptomatic ATS. Plaque generation and composition. ATS plaque fate and clinical relevance.

Diabetes. Mechanisms of action of insulin and glucagon. Type 1 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes. Other types of diabetes. Short-term and long-term diabetes associated complications (macrovascular and microvascular).

Cancers. Definition and classification of cancers. Staging and grading. Epidemiology of cancer. Risk factors. Genetics and environment contribution to cancer. Molecular basis of cancers: oncogenes (classification, molecular mechanisms and specific examples) and tumor-suppressor genes (classification, molecular mechanisms and specific examples). Oncogenic viruses (classification, molecular mechanisms and specific examples). Hematological cancers: introduction and classification. Leukemias. Limphomas. Multiple Myeloma. Myelodisplastic syndromes. Molecular mechanisms and pathways involved in hematological malignancies. Diagnosis and therapies for hematologic malignancies. Metastasis. Basic concepts: migration, invasion, and metastasis. The metastatic cascade: cellular and molecular events. Induction of the metastatic phenotype: clonal evolution model, metastatic gene signature, cancer stem cells. Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMPs) and metastasis. Metastasis and organotropisms (oligo Vs poli-metastatic tropism). Spread of malignant tumors.

Tumor Microenvironment (TME): overview of major soluble factors, cancer associated fibroblasts, cancer stem cells.

Tumor immunology: tumor-associated antigens, tumor specifc antigens, oncofetal antigens, immunesuppression, cell exhaustion, anergy.

Seminars by external speakers.