Project 4
Metabolic cross-talk within the tumour microenvironment
The metabolic microenvironment of tumours is also determined by the complex heterotypic interactions between different cell types within the tumour ecosystem. Cancer-associated adipocytes (CAA) support the development and progression of breast cancer tumours by driving invasion and metastasis formation and by promoting resistance to anti-cancer therapies.
As part of a collaborative project with the lab of Moshe Oren (Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot), we have found that loss of TP53 in breast cancer cell induces the reprogramming of preadipocytes to induce metabolic reprogramming and augmented cytokine expression leading to the establishment of an immune suppressive microenvironment (Hassin et al., PNAS 2023).
By conducting multi-omics analysis in co-culture systems, we are currently investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the bidirectional communication between breast cancer cells and adipocytes to elucidate how metabolic cross-talk can promote breast cancer cell survival.