Seeing is Believing: Visualising the Heterogeneous Metabolism of Breast Cancer


Published June 4, 2024
Scientific application
Category

On June 7, 2024, Euro-BioImaging hosts the Cancer Metabolism Series in collaboration with the International Society of Cancer Metabolism (ISCaM). This series of lectures takes place once a month during the Virtual Pub, bringing together speakers from the cancer metabolism field with imaging experts from the Euro-BioImaging network, for exchange with enthusiasts from the biological & biomedical imaging fields in the Virtual Pub audience. Our speaker on June 7 is Peter Kreuzaler, with a talk entitled "Seeing is Believing: Visualising the Heterogeneous Metabolism of Breast Cancer." 

Registration is free and open to all. Click to register to attend the Virtual Pub every Friday.

Abstract

Seeing is Believing: Visualising the Heterogeneous Metabolism of Breast Cancer

Tumours undergo constant Darwinian evolution and clonal diversification, the net result of which tends to be increased aggressiveness and invasiveness. These incipient clones can differ significantly in their metabolic needs, however the precise analysis thereof poses significant challenges due to the ephemeral nature of many metabolites and the fact that analysis is usually carried out in bulk. Using a suit of Mass Spectrometric Imaging techniques, we identify pantothenic acid (Vitamin B5) as a key metabolite required for tumour progression mediated by the oncogene Myc. Areas of high Myc expression showed increased pantothenic acid uptake, resulting in higher levels of CoA and increased Krebs cycle activity. Importantly, its deprivation reversed many of the metabolic changes mediated by Myc, and reduced tumour growth in both murine tumours as well as patient derived xenografts.

About our Speaker

Peter Kreuzaler received his degree in biochemistry from the Free University in Berlin. He was then awarded a scholarship to study for a PhD in the laboratory of Prof. Christine Watson at the University of Cambridge, where he discovered a novel type of physiological cell death. On the back of this work, Peter was elected a Junior Research Fellow at Trinity College Cambridge, and spend his time as such studying clonal heterogeneity in breast cancer in the laboratory of Prof. Gerard Evan. This project sparked his interested in spatial omics and he thus joined Dr Mariia Yuneva’s team at the Francis Crick Institute as part of the CRUK Grand Challenge Rosetta team. Here he established several techniques in the field of Mass Spec imaging, and found a link between cancer progression and the need for Vitamin B5 uptake. Since August 2023 Peter runs his own research group as an independent group leader at CECAD in Cologne studying the organisation of (patho)physiological tissue niches.

Peter Kreuzaler will present at the Virtual Pub/Cancer Metabolism Series of Friday, June 7 at 13:00 CEST.
Peter Kreuzaler will present at the Virtual Pub/Cancer Metabolism Series with ISCaM.

More news from Euro-BioImaging

CanSERV user story

August 27, 2025

Multiplex imaging of lymph nodes: How Euro-BioImaging is advancing cancer research through the canSERV funding

The immune system plays an important role in fighting cancer but can also be a pathway of metastasis – therefore understand the interactions of…

August 26, 2025

Euro-BioImaging at IUIS 2025: Building Bridges with the Immunology Community

Vienna, August 17–22, 2025 – More than 5,000 researchers from over 150 countries gathered in Vienna for the 19th International Congress of Immunology…

Euro-BioImaging booth at Turku PET Symposium 2025

August 11, 2025

Euro-BioImaging at Turku PET Symposium 2025

In June 2025, Euro-BioImaging team members were delighted to attend the Turku PET Symposium, organised by the Turku PET Centre, part of our Finnish…