Project description
A strategy to prevent tumour progression
The cancer research and medical oncology communities are deliberating between nutrient deprivation and supplementation approaches to prevent tumour progression. Studies have indicated that cyclic fasting or fasting-mimicking diets that restrict nutrients reduce tumour progression. The ERC-funded METABALANCANCER project aims to develop a new strategy for halting tumour progression and improving treatment response. It will explore combinations of targeted metabolite supplementation and global nutrient restriction, using various techniques, such as biochemical experiments, isotope tracing experiments and integrated omics analyses, to identify the cell-autonomous and immune-mediated mechanisms that underlie the anti-tumour effects of targeted metabolite supplementation in combination with global nutrient restriction. METABALANCANCER will test the most effective metabolite supplementation restriction strategy in advanced triple-negative breast cancer patients.
Objective
The goal of this proposal is to explore combinations of targeted metabolite supplementation and global nutrient restriction as a new strategy to reprogram tumor metabolism, to halt tumor progression and to improve response to treatments.
Preclinical and clinical studies published by our group and by others showed that global nutrient restriction, in the form of cyclic fasting or fasting-mimicking diets (FMDs), produces desirable metabolic and immunologic effects that result in reduced tumor progression and in the prolongation of animal/patient survival. Of note, our unpublished results indicate that the supplementation of specific amino acids or fatty acids has in vitro and in vivo antitumor effects, which are strongly enhanced when metabolite supplementation is combined with nutrient starvation.
By employing canonical cell biology and biochemical experiments, polysome/ribosome profiling, isotope tracing experiments and integrated omics (transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic) analyses in in vitro and in vivo murine and human tumor models, here we propose to:
- identify the cell-autonomous and immune-mediated mechanisms at the basis of the antitumor effects of targeted metabolite supplementation in combination with global nutrient restriction;
- identify the most effective metabolite supplementation-restriction strategy to be tested in a first-in-human clinical trial in patients with advanced triple-negative breast cancer.
While the basic cancer research and medical oncology communities are engaged in a historical scientific and clinical diatribe on the use of nutrient deprivation vs. supplementation approaches to halt tumor progression and to improve patient survival, we will exploit our unprecedented ability to conduct parallel preclinical and clinical experimentation in the field of cancer metabolism to identify new and effective combinations of balanced metabolite supplementation and restriction, with relevant scientific and translational implications.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences nutrition
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine oncology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
20122 Milano
Italy
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