Project description DEENESFRITPL The link between weight and breast cancer risk Being overweight increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer after menopause. The exact link between breast cancer and weight remains undefined. The ERC-funded FAT-BC project will investigate whether increased adiposity helps tumours to survive and grow. Specifically, it will study the associations between patient adiposity and the genomic and transcriptomic features of the bulk tumour in breast cancer patients. It will also create a comprehensive atlas of breast cancer according to various patient and mammary adiposity measures for the two most common breast cancer histological subtypes. The data will be shared via a web-based data portal. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective One out of 8 women develops breast cancer (BC) in her lifetime and 1 out of 2 is overweight or obese in industrialized countries. While heavier women have an increased risk of developing BC and heavier BC patients present with worse disease characteristics, BC is so far still treated regardless of patient adiposity because of the limited knowledge accumulated so far. I hypothesize that increased adiposity provides a different ‘soil’ for the tumor cells (the 'seeds') to grow, potentially leading to biological peculiarities of the tumor cells and the cells from the tumor microenvironment. To investigate this hypothesis, I will firstly study the associations between patient adiposity and the genomic and transcriptomic features of the bulk tumor in >2.700 BC patients (FATomics). Secondly, I will complement these findings at the single cell level by creating a comprehensive atlas of BC according to various patient and mammary adiposity measures for the two most common BC histological subtypes (FATlas). Special attention will be given to the mammary fat cells, the adipocytes, and how these help tumor cells to grow and affect treatment efficacy. State-of-the-art technologies such as single-nuclei RNA sequencing, spatial protein visualization and digital pathology will be applied. Thirdly, the FATlas data will be shared with the scientific community through a web-based dataportal (FATshare). Finally, using samples from a prospective in-house clinical trial, I will investigate whether adiposity-associated features are associated with anti-proliferative and/or immune response to immunotherapy and endocrine therapy (FATrial).FAT-BC integrates complementary and multidisciplinary approaches with state-of-the-art technologies and will build upon my expertise in BC biology. The results should lead to the identification of potential strategies to tailor BC treatment according to adiposity, a still unmet clinical need in the context of personalized medicine. Fields of science medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncologybreast cancermedical and health scienceshealth sciencespersonalized medicinemedical and health sciencesbasic medicineimmunologyimmunotherapy Keywords breast cancer obesity genomics transcriptomics immune infiltrates single cell single-nuclei RNA sequencing clinical trial Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme Topic(s) ERC-2020-COG - ERC CONSOLIDATOR GRANTS Call for proposal ERC-2020-COG See other projects for this call Funding Scheme ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant Host institution KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN Net EU contribution € 1 998 620,00 Address OUDE MARKT 13 3000 Leuven Belgium See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 620,00 Beneficiaries (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by Net EU contribution Expand all Collapse all KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT LEUVEN Belgium Net EU contribution € 1 998 620,00 Address OUDE MARKT 13 3000 Leuven See on map Region Vlaams Gewest Prov. Vlaams-Brabant Arr. Leuven Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Total cost € 1 998 620,00
