MetaCross | Nucleotide metabolism crosstalk in cancer: A single cell approach

Summary
DNA synthesis is essential for cell proliferation. Nucleotides, the basic building blocks of nucleic acids, are made by nucleotide de novo synthesis (DNS), and DNS disruption is detrimental to rapidly proliferating cancer cells. Established >70 years ago, anti-nucleotide therapy was one of the first approaches to treat cancer, but it suffers high rate of resistance and relapse. DNS can be bypassed by an uptake of extracellular nucleotides or by recycling in salvage pathways, possibly a reason for limited efficacy of anti-nucleotide therapy. To date, the cellular sources of nucleotides in normal tissue and in tumors in vivo remain poorly characterized. The central goal of this project is to define these nucleotide sources, understand the intercellular metabolic crosstalk of nucleotides in tumors, and characterize the adaptations to DNS blockade in cancer and stromal cells. To reach these goals, I will use the totally new perspective brought by the single cell technology and combine my expertise in single cell omics and metabolism with the state-of-the-art mouse models and advanced bioinformatics available at the host institute. I propose an integrative in vivo approach using single cell RNA-sequencing, which in combination with genetic interventions will allow me to resolve dynamic expression profiles of individual cell types. I will use inducible mouse models to selectively disable DNS in the stroma (lungs of a host animal) and in cancer cells (orthotopic tumors from syngeneic DNS-deficient lung cancer cells) to generate tumors fully relying on nucleotides from internal or external sources, respectively. In parallel, I will perform in vivo CRISPR screen to identify genes whose lack represents a targetable metabolic dependency of DNS-disabled cancer cells. This innovative approach will shed novel insights into organization of tumor metabolic homeostasis and identify new targets with the potential to make major breakthrough in anti-nucleotide intervention in cancer.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101027977
Start date: 01-01-2022
End date: 14-07-2026
Total budget - Public funding: 156 980,64 Euro - 156 980,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

DNA synthesis is essential for cell proliferation. Nucleotides, the basic building blocks of nucleic acids, are made by nucleotide de novo synthesis (DNS), and DNS disruption is detrimental to rapidly proliferating cancer cells. Established >70 years ago, anti-nucleotide therapy was one of the first approaches to treat cancer, but it suffers high rate of resistance and relapse. DNS can be bypassed by an uptake of extracellular nucleotides or by recycling in salvage pathways, possibly a reason for limited efficacy of anti-nucleotide therapy. To date, the cellular sources of nucleotides in normal tissue and in tumors in vivo remain poorly characterized. The central goal of this project is to define these nucleotide sources, understand the intercellular metabolic crosstalk of nucleotides in tumors, and characterize the adaptations to DNS blockade in cancer and stromal cells. To reach these goals, I will use the totally new perspective brought by the single cell technology and combine my expertise in single cell omics and metabolism with the state-of-the-art mouse models and advanced bioinformatics available at the host institute. I propose an integrative in vivo approach using single cell RNA-sequencing, which in combination with genetic interventions will allow me to resolve dynamic expression profiles of individual cell types. I will use inducible mouse models to selectively disable DNS in the stroma (lungs of a host animal) and in cancer cells (orthotopic tumors from syngeneic DNS-deficient lung cancer cells) to generate tumors fully relying on nucleotides from internal or external sources, respectively. In parallel, I will perform in vivo CRISPR screen to identify genes whose lack represents a targetable metabolic dependency of DNS-disabled cancer cells. This innovative approach will shed novel insights into organization of tumor metabolic homeostasis and identify new targets with the potential to make major breakthrough in anti-nucleotide intervention in cancer.

Status

SIGNED

Call topic

MSCA-IF-2020

Update Date

28-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.3. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
H2020-EU.1.3.2. Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
MSCA-IF-2020 Individual Fellowships