Metabolic profiling of leukemic cells through isotope tracing in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer that is critical for disease initiation and progression. Flexible fuel choices and metabolic activities support growth of cancer cells in various nutrient and tissue environments of the human body. Targeting cancer-specific metabolic alterations and underlying mechanisms represents a field of intense focus in cancer research.

This project will leverage cutting-edge metabolomics and isotopic labeling-based flux analysis in humans to investigate metabolic reprogramming in malignant lymphocytes in their natural habitat such as the blood stream and bone marrow. The investigators will bring high-end mass spectrometry analyses into the clinic to address current questions in cancer research, including how is in vivo metabolism altered by leukemia? do cancer cells have specific metabolic needs that can be therapeutically targeted? and how the metabolic preference of cancer cells may be impacted by microenvironment?

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Jing Fan, assistant professor of nutritional sciences

CO-PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
Dr. Stefan M. Schieke, assistant professor of dermatology

Dr. Christopher Fletcher, assistant professor of medicine

COLLABORATOR
Dr. David T. Yang, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine