Grant: Project Grant

The advent of targeted therapies, such as Tamoxifen and Herceptin, has revolutionized clinical management of a subset of breast cancer patients. Health-related knowledge generated through basic research is responsible for numerous drugs currently being evaluated in clinical trials for cancer treatment. Promising candidate drugs include those targeting the signalling machinery within cancer cells, which relays signals to promote growth, survival and metastasis, along with those targeting metabolism of tumors, which provides cells with the critical energy to fuel their uncontrolled growth. One key outstanding challenge is to develop treatments that have the best chance of success in advanced breast cancer patients. Our work has identified a novel signaling node that is commonly increased in cancer cells and which greatly impacts cancer metabolism. In this grant application, we will determine whether we can exploit these metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer cells to design metabolic therapies working alone or in combination with signalling inhibitors.