On September 28th and 29th, 2014 the Vancouver Autophagy Symposium was held at the BC Cancer Research Centre. The event was hosted by the CIHR Team in Investigating Autophagy Proteins as Molecular Targets for Cancer Treatment and was led by Dr. Sharon Gorski.
Pancreas Centre BC was one of the sponsors of the event and a keynote speaker was Dr. Alec C. Kimmelman, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor Radiation Oncology, The Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA. Dr. Kimmelman’s presentation was called, "Autophagy, Metabolism, and Pancreatic Cancer" and he stated ‘Our work has previously shown that pancreatic cancers have an altered cellular metabolism that is utilized to promote growth and survival of these tumors. In addition to elevated autophagy, pancreatic cancers have re-wired pathways for utilization of various fuel sources such as glucose and glutamine. We have demonstrated that in many cases, oncogenic Kras plays a key role in regulating the metabolism of this tumor type. Importantly, several of these metabolic pathways including autophagy are critical for tumor growth and therefore represent potential therapeutic targets. These and other aspects of pancreatic cancer metabolism will be discussed.’
For more information about the symposium, click here.