Mentors

Steven Bensinger, V.M.D., Ph.D. (Primary)
Hong Wu, M.D., Ph.D. (Secondary)

Research Interests:

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive tumor with a median survival time of 3 months in untreated patients [1]. Palliative therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, extend survival times to a maximum of 2 years with an average survival of 9-15 months. Therapeutic intervention does not achieve clinical cures and novel therapeutic approaches that could extend survival time or achieve disease free intervals are desperately required. Cancer metabolism has emerged as an important regulator of proliferative capacity in many cancer types. De novo lipid biosynthesis (defined herein as the lipogenic program) is an essential component of cellular growth and proliferation providing important substrates for membrane biogenesis, energy production, and post-translational modifications. Mechanistic studies have revealed that perturbations in molecular lipid homoeostasis halt cellular growth, engage the apoptotic and autophagic machinery, and block cell cycle progression (reviewed in [2,3]). Two logical predictions of these observations are that 1) lipid metabolism is a physiologic determinant of cellular proliferation rates and tumor growth, and 2) the regulatory networks controlling de novo lipid biosynthesis could be targeted to decrease lipogenesis thereby providing novel therapeutic approaches for cancer. In my fellowship I will begin to test these predictions in glioblastoma cancer models.

Postdoctoral Scholar
University of California, Los Angeles
Department of Med-Hemat & Onc

Menendez JA, Lupu R (2007) Fatty acid synthase and the lipogenic phenotype in cancer pathogenesis. Nat Rev Cancer 7: 763-777.

DeBerardinis RJ, Lum JJ, Hatzivassiliou G, Thompson CB (2008) The biology of cancer: metabolic reprogramming fuels cell growth and proliferation. Cell Metab 7: 11-20.