Defining the role of antioxidants and BACH1 in tumor angiogenesis and metastasis

Our group discovered that antioxidant supplementation of the diet accelerates cancer progression and metastasis and that this effect is partly mediated by the redox-sensitive transcription factor BACH1.

Our goal for this project is to define the role of dietary antioxidants in cancer progression and metastasis, focusing on BACH1 and the chemokine CCL28.

Another goal is to understand our surprising discoveries that BACH1 can control HIF1a-independent tumor angiogenesis under normoxia and that knocking out the immune system of mice essentially prevents lung cancer and melanoma metastasis.

Our specific aims include defining mechanisms behind BACH1´s regulation of tumor angiogenesis and the effect of antioxidants on this system in tumors and healthy tissues; testing the hypothesis that targeting CCL28 signaling inhibits cancer progression and metastasis; and defining the role of specific immune cells in lung cancer and melanoma metastasis.

Our research has led to exciting findings about the consequences of antioxidant administration and its implications for cancer progression and identified new fundamental mechanisms of tumor biology.

We will now study the main players BACH1 and CCL28, and their interacting partners, and determine whether they can be targeted for improving cancer patient outcomes and further advance our understanding of cancer redox biology.