?The fight against cancer is a long and tough one, with many battles still to be won – but we are gradually gaining ground. One battlefield currently growing in importance is the cell metabolism. Thanks to the fine work of our VIB colleagues at the VIB–KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, a number of essential breakthroughs were made during the last few months. As they are closely intertwined and may seem quite similar at first glance, we shed more light on the recent publications and mutual collaborations of Massimiliano Mazzone, Sarah–Maria Fendt and Peter Carmeliet.

The VIB–KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology, with Diether Lambrechts and Jean–Christophe Marine at the helm, is dedicated to unraveling the molecular basis of vascular biological processes and diseases, with a specific focus on angiogenesis. The organization houses eight labs, each with its own scope and expertise, among which number the labs of Massimiliano, Sarah–Maria and Peter.

Different angles, viewpoints and collaborations The cancer metabolism field is a hot topic, that’s for sure. It is no coincidence that parameters affecting cancer development – both growth and metastasis – are being discovered at a fast rate. “This is challenging, but also yields great opportunities,” confirms Sarah–Maria. “After all, the mechanistic understanding of cancer metabolism should be taken into account in the development of anti–cancer drugs. The more parameters we find, the more precise and personalized – and thus effective – therapies will become.”

The three studies, published in the journals Cell Metabolism, Cell Reports and Cancer Cell, are fundamental steps towards those kinds of targeted treatments. But these labs wouldn’t have made waves in the international scientific community without each other’s help. For example, the metabolism expertise of Peter’s team triggered Massimiliano to include this research angle in his project. And vice versa: Peter benefitted from working with the other Cancer Research Center labs because of their knowhow relating to tumor oxygen shortage and blood vessel formation (Massimiliano) and expertise in stable isotope metabolite labeling and analysis (Sarah–Maria).

Discoveries marked by knowledge transfer Tumors are sometimes studied as homogeneous entities, but they actually consist of complex interactions between cancer, stromal, and immune cells. “That is why collaborations are indispensable to understanding the bigger picture of tumor metabolism,” says Sarah–Maria. Peter agrees: “Our combined expertise gives added value to our research projects, not only via our shared knowledge and experience, but also through the exchange of state–of–the–art technologies. This increases the impact of our studies immensely.”

If you take a look at pivotal biological discoveries, it is clear that great science is rarely a solo effort. “The examples are numerous,” says Massimiliano. “Macrophages were discovered by a zoologist, RNA silencing was first revealed in plants before being applied intensively in medicine, we owe green fluorescent protein to a biochemist studying an algae protein, and so on. These game–changers are marked by multidisciplinary approaches or knowledge transfers. The same applies to our cancer breakthroughs. I’m convinced that our future discoveries will also involve benefitting from each other’s strengths.”