Grant: Project Grant

Prostate cancer is the most prevalent cancer in men and a leading cause of cancer-related lethality. Consumption of saturated fat and obesity increase the risk of developing prostate cancer and related mortality, but the reasons for this association are still poorly understood. We have discovered that obesity from diets enriched in saturated fat directly affects the fuel and processes used by prostate cancer cells to thrive. This creates new molecular vulnerabilities that could be targeted as the Achilles' heel of prostate cancer to cripple disease progression. Here, we propose to use state-of-the-art models of prostate cancer and advanced biological techniques to strengthen our understanding of these molecular vulnerabilities and how they contribute to the progression of prostate cancer in the context of obesity and saturated fat diets. This work will provide a novel and much-needed framework to ultimately identify patients that may benefit from innovative therapeutic options, possibly combined with precision nutrition approaches, to fight this devastating disease.