Metabolic pathways in gastrointestinal cancers
Deregulation in metabolic pathways contribute significantly to cancer progression, not simply by meeting the energy needs of a rapidly growing cell population, but also to provide essential metabolites that can help the tumor cells cope with a rapidly changing microenvironment. Using wet lab and data mining, we aim to better understand signal transduction pathways related to enzymes of lipid and glucose metabolism pathways.
Our approach entails the use of a nutrient depletion model where we challenge the cells with nutrient stress, but not to the level where it can cause extensive cell death. This model activates nutrient sensing pathways, but also activates survival pathways and increased motility in the cells that remain alive.