Hamza Furkan Alkan, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Area of Research: All Cancers Melanoma accounts for most skin cancer-related deaths due to its highly metastatic nature. Metastasis, the spreading of cancer cells to other locations in the body, is a difficult process for a cancer cell to survive; however, once cancer cells successfully metastasize, the disease becomes much harder to cure. This is partly because metastasizing cancer cells undergo several adaptations, including changing their metabolism, to evade immune cells and survive in circulation. Immunotherapy, a type of treatment that activates anti-cancer immune cells, is critical for melanoma treatment. Although immunotherapy cures many patients, many people do not respond. Therefore, understanding the interactions between immune and cancer cells is critical for improving therapy responses. With this grant, Dr. Alkan aims to identify unknown metabolic adaptations in metastasizing cancer cells and how these adaptations modulate their interactions with immune cells. He will identify metabolic genes that alter the ability of cancer cells to metastasize in immunocompetent and immunodeficient mice by performing a genetic screen. Then, he will study mechanisms of metabolic crosstalk between immune cells and cancer cells that can be exploited to improve immunotherapy. Projects and Grants Metabolic regulation of immunogenicity and metastasis The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center | All Cancers | 2023 | Sean J. Morrison, PhD
