Dr. Paul Monga, Director of the PLRC, has received a multi-PI R01 grant with Dr. Amaia Lujambio, Assistant Professor at Mt. Sinai, to study, “Targeting tumor metabolism and immune environment via beta-catenin: Towards precision medicine in HCC.” Other PLRC collaborators who are full members of PLRC from Pittsburgh on this grant include Dr. Jianhua Luo and Dr. Silvia Liu. This proposal is based on the hypothesis that CTNNB1-mutated HCCs (25-35% of all HCCs) could form the basis of precision medicine in HCC. The study will further our understanding of how these subtypes of tumors may have mTOR activation owing to glutamine addiction and at the same time be resistant to immune checkpoint inhibitors due to immune cell exclusion from the tumor microenvironment. Congratulations to all involved in the project!
