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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)

Fatty acid synthase regulates estrogen receptor-α signaling in breast cancer cells

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Oncogenesis. 2017 Feb 27;6(2):e299. doi: 10.1038/oncsis.2017.4. ABSTRACT Fatty acid synthase (FASN), the key enzyme for endogenous synthesis of fatty acids, is overexpressed and hyperactivated in a biologically aggressive subset of sex steroid-related tumors, including breast carcinomas. Using pharmacological and genetic approaches, we assessed the molecular relationship between FASN signaling and estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) signaling […]

Nutrients in Energy and One-Carbon Metabolism: Learning from Metformin Users

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Nutrients. 2017 Feb 10;9(2):121. doi: 10.3390/nu9020121. ABSTRACT Metabolic vulnerability is associated with age-related diseases and concomitant co-morbidities, which include obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis and cancer. Most of the health problems we face today come from excessive intake of nutrients and drugs mimicking dietary effects and dietary restriction are the most successful manipulations targeting age-related pathways. Phenotypic […]

Nuclear reprogramming of cancer stem cells: Corrupting the epigenetic code of cell identity with oncometabolites

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Mol Cell Oncol. 2016 Mar 28;3(6):e1160854. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2016.1160854. eCollection 2016. ABSTRACT Generation of cancer stem cell (CSC)-like cells might occur through metabolic corruption of the epigenetic codes that govern cell identity. We recently identified how archetypal oncometabolites, without altering the baseline expression of endogenous stem cell maintenance genes but endowing cells with epigenetic states refractory […]

Metformin targets histone acetylation in cancer-prone epithelial cells

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Cell Cycle. 2016 Dec 16;15(24):3355-3361. doi: 10.1080/15384101.2016.1249547. Epub 2016 Oct 28. ABSTRACT The usage of metabolic intermediates as substrates for chromatin-modifying enzymes provides a direct link between the metabolic state of the cell and epigenetics. Because this metabolism-epigenetics axis can regulate not only normal but also diseased states, it is reasonable to suggest that manipulating […]

STAT3-targeted treatment with silibinin overcomes the acquired resistance to crizotinib in ALK-rearranged lung cancer

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Cell Cycle. 2016 Dec 16;15(24):3413-3418. doi: 10.1080/15384101.2016.1245249. Epub 2016 Oct 18. ABSTRACT The signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) has been suggested to play a prominent role in mediating non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) resistance to some tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI)-mediated therapies. Using a model of anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene (ALK)-translocated NSCLC with acquired […]

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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