ENSEMBLE
Research type
Research Study
Full title
ENSEMBLE: Enabling the study of metabolism in breast cancer through collection of fresh-tissue biopsies
IRAS ID
196330
Contact name
Mariia Yuneva
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
204458/Z/16/Z, Wellcome Trust grant number; Z6364106/2018/08/69, Data Protection Number; C57633/A, CRUK grant number
Duration of Study in the UK
7 years, 11 months, 28 days
Research summary
Altered metabolism is thought to provide cancer cells with advantage in proliferation and survival over normal cells. However, it can also create cancer cell vulnerabilities, hence offering an opportunity for designing new therapies. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in the world and a leading cause of cancer death among women. A few studies in any type of human cancer, including breast cancer, have used genomic data or/and metabolite analysis of human tumour tissue samples to demonstrate the association of specific metabolic changes with different subtypes and outcome. However, neither the relationship between disease subtypes and their associated genetic events and metabolic changes nor the interaction between tumour cells and their environment has been systematically addressed. Traditional in vitro model systems are not adequate to study metabolism because they do not represent a true tumour environment and are a subject of prolonged adaptation to artificial cell culture conditions. Moreover, there is a need for in vivo and ex vivo models representing breast cancer diversity and tumour environment that can be used for predicting and testing the personalised therapies.
Metabolic analysis of fresh tissues (by metabolomics and Mass Spectrometry Imaging) and tissues grown as patient derived xenograft models in vivo should reveal the unperturbed relationships between genetic profiles of tumour cells, tumour microenvironment and metabolic profiles of tumours. These relationships should provide new targets for metabolism-based therapies. The experimental systems required to perform this research require fresh breast cancer biopsies.
REC name
London - Fulham Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/LO/0162
Date of REC Opinion
5 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion