Welcome to the Laboratory of Metabolic Physiology in Cancer at UMN! We are a translationally focused group that studies the impact of systemic metabolic physiology on cancer outcomes.
A growing number of cancer patients are confronting comorbid diagnoses of obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease, and other forms of metabolic dysregulation that impact tumor behavior and responses to treatment. Compared to cancer patients without metabolic comorbidities, this vulnerable population often experiences worse outcomes. Using a variety of tools from epidemiology, computation, metabolomics, molecular biology, and systemic physiology, our group seeks to address this area of unmet clinical need through investigation of the following questions:
- How does adipose tissue, whose quantity, distribution, and function are altered in obesity, influence the life cycle of cancer, from tumor initiation to local proliferation, metastasis, and host immune response?
- How does cancer treatment, especially radiotherapy, remodel adipose tissue function to impact systemic metabolic health?
Cancer outcome disparities exist between obese and non-obese individuals.
Adipose tissue is a dynamic endocrine organ that impacts systemic physiology in multiple domains.