CV Science

Daniel Loïc Pouliquen CRHC Inserm, Pharm.D, Ph.D Biological Sciences and Health

Course and current status

Daniel Loïc Pouliquen, born in Lorient, Brittany, France on March 17, 1960, obtained his Pharmacist degree together with a specialized degree (CES) in Clinical Biochemistry in Rennes, France, in 1984. After a Ph.D in Biological Sciences and Health at Rennes I University in 1988, he developed the characterization and applications of new NMR contrast agents for proton MRI, and taught Biophysics as an assistant professor in the department of Biophysics, School of Medicine in Angers, France. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at the Department of Radiology of the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, USA (Pr D. D. Stark), he became staff researcher (CR1) of the French National Institute of Health (Inserm) in December 1991, and pursued his researches in Angers on the design and applications of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIO) in MRI. From 1995 to 2001, he extended the scope of NMR relaxometry to the study of water states and dynamic properties in normal and tumor tissues, organisms under development (seeds, fish eggs and embryos), and biological fluids. These studies led to demonstrate some implications of the diet in changes in the biophysics of water in tissues during carcinogenesis. With this background, he further explored the quantitative and qualitative changes of the different water phases in mitochondria and pointed to some beneficial effects of combinations of phytochemicals in the prevention of some experimental models of cancers in mice and rats (myeloma, glioblastoma) in Angers (Inserm EMI00/18) and then in Nantes (Inserm U419 and UMR 601) (2001 to 2008). From 2008 to 2018, he established a biocollection of preneoplastic and neoplastic cell lines and experimental models of malignant mesothelioma (MM) for basic research on the biology of this aggressive cancer and evaluation of new strategies of treatment  (Inserm UMR 892 and UMR 1232 (team 4, CRCINA, Nantes)). Since 2019, he works on the identification of new biomarkers of cancer invasiveness by quantitative proteomics (mass spectrometry), using cell lines, experimental MM tumors and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded sections of tumors from patients (team 3, CRCI²NA, ICO Cancer Center, Angers). To promote exchanges of ideas between researchers from different parts of the world working on common topics, he has edited two books on rat models of cancer (2012) and use of curcumin for health implications (2014), an eBook on malignant mesothelioma (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/Ma-Me), and is presently co-editing two special issues dedicated to Curcuminoids in cancer research (https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/30885) and biomarkers of cancer invasiveness and metastasis (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/cancers/special_issues/metastasis_invasiveness).

Scientific summary

Animal models of cancers have led to major improvements in the diagnosis, prevention and therapy (Book, 2012). Together with investigations on biofluids (Biochimie 2001), subcellular components (Cell Death Differ 2006, BMC Cancer 2006), anhydrobiotic systems and organisms under developement (C R Acad Sci Paris 1997, Comp Biochem Physiol B 1998), and tissues (Anticancer Res 1993), they have highlighted the diversity of water states and dynamic properties in biological systems. With the development of Biomedical Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) during the second half of the 1980s, the conception and evaluation of new contrast agents such as superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIOs) (Magn Reson imaging 1991, Magn Reson Med 1992, JMRI 1994, Lab Invest 1994, Book chapters 1990, 1999, 2001), has extended further the potential of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for the early detection of various neoplasms. In addition to their overall contribution to the study of nutrition - cancer relationships (Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care 2007, Int J Cancer 2008), and tumor immunology (Oncotarget 2018), experimental models of aggressive cancers in immunocompetent mice (Cell Mol Biol 2001, Vaccine 2011) and rats have pointed to the potential of some phytochemicals (such as curcumin) for the therapy of the most invasive subtype of malignant mesothelioma (MM) (Book 2014, Oncotarget 2017, Cancers 2020c). The advent of robust techniques of quantitative proteomics (SWATH-MS) and the crossing of proteomic data collected on original biocollection of rat mesothelial cell lines (Oncotarget 2016) and MM tumors of increasing invasiveness with those collected on MM samples from patients led to identify new common candidate biomarkers (Cancers 2020b, Cancers 2023) and biomarkers of all stages of MM pathogenesis, including colonization of host organs (Cancers 2020a). In parallel, the crossing of these data with proteomic data collected from colon adenocarcinoma and breast tumors from patients provides a first approach of a list of biomarkers of invasiveness shared by both experimental animal and human tumors (Int J Oncol 2020). Finally, mass spectrometry analyses of residual tumors in curcumin-treated mesothelioma bearing rats has revealed changes in both the tumor microenvironment and lymphoid organs, providing evidence of the pleiotropic anticancer effects of curcumin in vivo (Int J Mol Sci 2021, 2022; Front Pharmacol 2022; Pharmaceutics 2023).