Funded by the 2014 Wine Celebration in Honor of
David Reynolds and Colleen Buckley
During the process of cancer transformation, cells hijack their internal metabolic pathways in order to utilize nutrients for the purpose of providing energy and building blocks required for rapid growth. In this V Foundation Award, we propose to use mass spectrometry to provide unprecedented insight into the activities of hundreds of metabolic enzymes in living cells as they become cancerous. We will use this information to identify unique metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer cells, essentially determining those metabolic processes that are required to sustain life and growth in cancer cells but not normal, non-cancerous cells. Ultimately, the work will allow us to design new dietary interventions and pharmacologic agents that selectively target the metabolism of cancer cells, including in breast cancer and colon cancer.
