Importantly, there is a positive correlation between tumors reliance on glucose metabolism, their aggressiveness and poor clinical outcome. Additionally, genes which appear to contribute to carcinogenic phenotypes have also been implicated in the metabolic control of individuals with diabetes, obesity and other metabolic pathologies.  Given that the metabolic status of tumors and surrounding cells contributes to the aggressiveness and “dynamic nature” of cancer cells, the Centre’s team aims to elucidate the molecular pathways controlling cancer cell metabolism and learn more about key metabolite changes, as well as the molecules orchestrating them, during cancer development.

The research program will lead to the establishment of an advanced metabolomic platform for the profiling of different metabolites from blood and tissue extracts, coming from animal models of cancer as well as from cancer patients. This will allow physicians and scientists to follow the disease progression of patients and correlate it with specific metabolite changes, leading to the identification of unique biomarkers and potential targets for treatments.

As the group already has access to an extensive sample collection from mouse and human studies, its goal is to bring together scientists specializing in the field of genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry of cancer, and metabolism.

The team:
Dr. Nicole Beauchemin
Dr. Vincent Giguere
Dr. Russell Jones
Dr. Armin Pause
Dr. Julie St. Pierre