Xin Cai, MD, PhD

Cancer must change its nutrient uptake to grow. Drugs blocking cancer’s use of nutrients have been the basis of cancer therapy. However, most of these drugs work by blocking the pathways that metabolites use. They exhibit significant toxicity since they also harm normal tissues. We are looking at metabolite-targeted therapies that are less toxic. We hope the therapy will be more specific and effective as well. We don’t seek to block metabolite pathways. Instead, we target the specific metabolites that change in the tumor microenvironment. We study and harness the power of our body’s metabolites as drugs. Our work has the potential to change how we target cancer, leading to less toxic and more effective drugs. Our work will also help to diagnose cancer.