Project Title: Targeting triple-negative breast cancer by exploiting a metabolic vulnerability
downstream of mTOR Complex 1
This project will test a new strategy for selectively killing tumor cells in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), an aggressive breast cancer subtype with particularly poor prognosis for which no targeted therapies are currently available. This strategy leverages clinically approved therapeutics to exploit a molecular vulnerability that we recently discovered in tumors with uncontrolled activation of the master metabolic regulator mTOR complex 1. We hypothesize that this strategy could be effective in killing TNBC cells in which mTORC1 is activated by specific genetic mutations which are common in breast cancer. The use of clinically approved therapeutics means that efficacy in these studies could lead to their rapid repurposing for breast cancer patients.
