15th FERO Grant – Dr. Alejo Efeyan

It is known that tumors require high levels of nutrients, but it is unknown which tumor needs which specific nutrient. This research aims to generate this knowledge to develop new treatments based on two complementary therapeutic strategies: selectively suppressing the nutrients that tumors need to weaken them and, in parallel, preventing tumors from detecting the lack of these nutrients to inhibit them from activating and deactivating genes that allow them to adapt and survive under fluctuating nutrient conditions.

In lymphomas in mice, mutations have been identified in genes that signal to the tumor cell that certain nutrients are very high. These mutations cause the tumor cell to believe it has enormous amounts of amino acids, leading it to grow and multiply. It has been observed that these mutations accelerate lymphoma onset. By blocking the cellular circuit that connects nutrient detection with cell multiplication using a drug, it is seen that the presence of these mutations makes tumor cells vulnerable. The next step is to determine if this vulnerability also exists in human lymphomas.