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Metabolism and cancer
Menendez’s Lab

DESCRIPTION

Unlocking the metabolic secrets of cancer: Our “Metabolism and Cancer” team studies how cellular metabolism drives cancer growth, drug resistance, and metastasis. We use cutting-edge laboratory experiments, computational tools and clinical trials to validate our discoveries in cancer patients.

MAIN RESEARCH LINES

  1. CANCER METABOLISM

    Metabolic inhibitors for cancer therapy

    • Metabolic mechanisms of tumorigenesis & drug resistance
    • Clinical development of anti-cancer metabolic drugs

    Mitochondria, senescence, and cancer

    • Mitochondria-based elimination of tumor-/metastasis-initiating cells
    • Metabolic therapy-induced senescence (MTIS)

    Metabolo-immunotherapy

    • Tumor cell-intrinsic immunometabolism 
    • Metabolic/dietary interventions and immunotherapy 
  2. BIOCOMPOUNDS
    • Natural biocompounds for cancer treatment
  3. COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY & CHEMISTRY
    • Mathematical modeling of cancer
    • Computational design of anti-cancer metabolic drugs

Javier A. Menendez

Group leaders

IP

Elisabet Cuyàs

Researchers

Established researcher (Miguel Servet)

Eila Serrano Hervás

Researchers

Postdoctoral researcher (INVESTIGO)

Sara Verdura

Researchers

Predoctoral researcher

Àngela Llop Hernández

Young investigators

Predoctoral researcher

Júlia López

Young investigators

Predoctoral researcher

Begoña Martín Castillo

Researchers

Established researcher (Unit of Clinical Research, ICO-Girona)

Eugeni López Bonet

Researchers

Established researcher (Hospital Trueta)

Progesterone receptor isoform-dependent cross-talk between prolactin and fatty acid synthase in breast cancer

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Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Dec 10;12(24):24671-24692. doi: 10.18632/aging.202289. Epub 2020 Dec 10. ABSTRACT Progesterone receptor (PR) isoforms can drive unique phenotypes in luminal breast cancer (BC). Here, we hypothesized that PR-B and PR-A isoforms differentially modify the cross-talk between prolactin and fatty acid synthase (FASN) in BC. We profiled the responsiveness of the FASN gene […]

Mimetics of extra virgin olive oil phenols with anti-cancer stem cell activity

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Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Nov 9;12(21):21057-21075. doi: 10.18632/aging.202154. Epub 2020 Nov 9. ABSTRACT The extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) dihydroxy-phenol oleacein is a natural inhibitor of multiple metabolic and epigenetic enzymes capable of suppressing the functional traits of cancer stem cells (CSC). Here, we used a natural product-inspired drug discovery approach to identify new compounds […]

Systemic overexpression of C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 promotes metabolic dysregulation and premature death in mice with accelerated aging

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Aging (Albany NY). 2020 Oct 26;12(20):20001-20023. doi: 10.18632/aging.104154. Epub 2020 Oct 26. ABSTRACT Injection of tissues with senescent cells induces changes that mimic aging, and this process is delayed in mice engineered to eliminate senescent cells, which secrete proinflammatory cytokines, including C-C motif chemokine ligand 2 (Ccl2). Circulating levels of Ccl2 correlate with age, but […]

Heregulin Drives Endocrine Resistance by Altering IL-8 Expression in ER-Positive Breast Cancer

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Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Oct 19;21(20):7737. doi: 10.3390/ijms21207737. ABSTRACT Sustained HER2/HER3 signaling due to the overproduction of the HER3 ligand heregulin (HRG) is proposed as a key contributor to endocrine resistance in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer. The molecular mechanisms linking HER2 transactivation by HRG-bound HER3 to the acquisition of a hormone-independent phenotype in […]

Fatty Acid Synthase Is a Key Enabler for Endocrine Resistance in Heregulin-Overexpressing Luminal B-Like Breast Cancer

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Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Oct 16;21(20):7661. doi: 10.3390/ijms21207661. ABSTRACT HER2 transactivation by the HER3 ligand heregulin (HRG) promotes an endocrine-resistant phenotype in the estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) luminal-B subtype of breast cancer. The underlying biological mechanisms that link them are, however, incompletely understood. Here, we evaluated the putative role of the lipogenic enzyme fatty acid […]

Ruth Lupu | Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA

Pilar Blancafort | Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, Perth, Australia

Francesca Cutruzzolà | Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Tomás Alarcón | ICREA-Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Reus, Spain

Sílvia Osuna | ICREA-Institut de Química Computacional i Catàlisi (IQCC), Girona, Spain

Josep Sardanyés | Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM), Barcelona, Spain

José Antonio Encinar | Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain

Vicente Micol | Universidad Miguel Hernández, Elche, Spain

Antonio Segura-Carretero | Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain

Jorge Joven | Institut d’Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili (IISPV), Reus, Spain

Carlos Peña Garay | Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc (LSC), Spain

Menendez grup. Research group photo
Program Against Cancer Therapeutic Resistance

CONTACT US

Campus IDIBELL
(L’Hospitalet del Llobregat)
Hospital Duran i Reynals, Gran Via 199,
L’Hospitalet del Llobregat,
Barcelona 08908
Tel. +34 93 260 7952

Campus IGTP-IJC
(Badalona)
Campus Can Ruti – IGTP – Building Muntanya,
Rd. Can Ruti, Camí de les escoles s/n,
Badalona, Barcelona 08916
Tel. +34 93 554 3069

Campus IDIBGI
(Girona)
Parc Hospitalari Martí i Julià de Salt, Dr. Castany s/n,
Salt, Girona 17190
Tel. +34 872 987 087

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