Study of Metabolic Changes in the Transformation Malignant Precancerous Skin Lesions

Although growing evidence indicates that bioenergetic metabolism plays an important role in the progression of tumorigenesis, little information is available on the contribution of reprogramming of energy metabolism in cancer initiation and how it influences further the bioenergetic behavior of tumors. By applying a quantitative proteomic approach, the consortium has recently found that specific metabolic modifications precede cSCC. This study will investigate the role of energy metabolism in malignant transformation of premalignant skin lesions into cSCC, and in cSCC progression, with correlation with clinical characteristics and metastatic outcomes. Using several cutting-edge technologies in human samples, the team will evaluate whether targeting energy metabolism has the potential to be used as curative treatments for cSCC and whether pre-determined metabolic alterations could be exploited as new preventive strategies. These modifications in energy metabolism could be used as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers.