Rachel Perry, PhD, has been invited to speak about her work in the growing field of cancer metabolism at an upcoming conference, Immunometabolism: Fundamentals to Prospective New Therapies, in November.
As an assistant professor of internal medicine (endocrinology) and of cellular and molecular physiology, Perry leads a research lab at Yale School of Medicine that uses novel isotopic tracer techniques to assess tumor immunometabolism. The goal of her research is to develop innovative metabolic approaches to slow tumor growth and enhance the response to standard cancer treatments.
In order for cancer immunology to be effective, explained Perry, immune cells require a substantial amount of energy to enter and kill cancer cells. “There’s been a thought in the field in recent years that tumor cells and immune cells may actually compete with each other for nutrients, such as glucose or amino acids,” she said. “It’s a technically difficult, teleological question that hasn’t been answered yet: Does nutrient competition in the tumor microenvironment actually exist? And does it affect the ability of immune cells to kill cancer cells?”
So far, Perry’s lab has been able to determine that substrate preferences change over the course of the development of the tumor. The next series of studies will involve altering the substrates in the microenvironment to explore what happens to the immune cells and cancer cells.
Perry is one of 11 immunometabolism experts from around the world who have been invited to speak at the conference, which will be held in Boston, Mass. on November 7-8, 2022. The conference will be an opportunity for individuals working in the immunometabolism field to come together and discuss important insights into new therapeutic possibilities.
“In recent years, the field of cancer metabolism has really been growing,” said Perry. “I would say about 95 percent of people studying cancer metabolism are cancer people moving into metabolism. I’m the opposite, a metabolism person moving into cancer. So there’s a lot we can learn from each other, and I enjoy bringing that metabolism perspective to this area.”
Yale’s Section of Endocrinology & Metabolism works to improve the health of individuals with endocrine and metabolic diseases by advancing scientific knowledge; applying new information to patient care; and training the next generation of physicians and scientists to become leaders in the field. To learn more about their work, visit Endocrinology & Metabolism.