MITIG · Addressing MITochondrial Import by Glioblastoma cells to rewire respiratory metabolism
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-03-01 → 2021-07-02
- EU contribution
- €158,122
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Addressing MITochondrial Import by Glioblastoma cells to rewire respiratory metabolism
Addressing the mechanisms that drive pathology is key to provide innovative therapeutic paths against currently untreatable diseases. That makes the case for certain cancer types such as glioblastoma, still associated with a dire prognosis derived from a very limited therapeutic handling. Unveiling how so far unaddressed mechanisms account for glioblastoma progression is thus key to face the high health and socio-economic burden this disease represents. A growing body of evidence is consolidating intercellular networking and sharing of organelles, as well as a consequent physiological rewiring as central to control the oncogenic process, thus revealing central for novel strategies aimed at curtailing glioblastoma development. Departing from these premises, MITIG has explored the missing link on how glioma cells rewire their metabolism and survival upon the acquisition of exogenous mitochondria, organelles that master respiration, metabolism and cell fate. To this end, MITIG training and research objectives have focused on the mechanisms by which glioblastoma import exogenous mitochondria, and its consequences in the remodelling of the native mitochondrial content and metabolism. Capitalizing on a wide range of techniques, MITIG has settled unprecedented approaches to analyse this biological process and unveil how it impacts mitochondrial morphology, function and metabolism in gliomas, which in turn define cancer cell growth. By tackling these objectives, MITIG will serve to provide a major advance in novel therapeutic strategies that impinge in the so far unappreciated mitochondrial transfer, with the final goal to improve the survival and quality of life of patients.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represents the most frequent and aggressive type of primary brain tumours in adults. Despite significant advances, current treatments involving resection and radiation/chemotherapy only partially mitigate the dire prognosis for GBM, hence avidly seeking for novel therapeutic approaches against a disease with still no virtual cure and a high socio-economic impact in the EU.A common feature in GBM, as in many other cancers, is their escape to the retrograde signalling and metabolic regulation exerted by mitochondria -the bioenergetic central of the cell. Modulation of mitochondrial function thus represents a primary target to rewire metabolism and counteract tumour progression and chemotherapy resistance. MITIG capitalizes on the recent reported ability of gliomas to import exogenous mitochondria, either isolated or transferred from surrounding neural cells in the brain, to foster tumour development and malignancy in vivo. MITIG will target both paths for mitochondrial importation to remodel organelle content and address i) how incorporation of exogenous mitochondria impacts respiratory metabolism in GBM cells and iii) the relevance of this metabolic rewiring for tumour development in vivo. Departing from mitochondrial acquisition as a novel tool to redefine respiration and metabolism in cancer, MITIG will develop a comprehensive training program fostering MSCA and EU values on research, dissemination and public engagement. An international network of experts will support the training in the intersectorial, multidisciplinary facets of MITIG. In sum, while paving the way for a promising novel biomedical field, MITIG aims at providing novel therapeutic targets and overcoming long lasting questions on respiratory metabolism in GBM and cancer as a whole.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA · SalamancaCoordinatorSpain
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union