Dr Debasmita Mukherjee has been awarded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship to tackle weight-loss syndrome in pancreatic cancer
Based at the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, Dr Debasmita Mukherjee from Giulia Biffi’s Group has been awarded the prestigious MSCA fellowship to lead an innovative research project to tackle cancer cachexia, a devastating condition that affects many people with pancreatic cancer.
Cachexia is a complex syndrome that causes severe and irreversible weight loss, leaving patients extremely frail, less able to tolerate treatments, and ultimately lower survival rate. While most existing research focuses on how cancer cells themselves contribute to cachexia, Debasmita’s project takes a different approach—by exploring the role of cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which form a large part of the tumour environment in pancreatic cancer.
The project, titled “CAFinCAC: Dissecting and targeting malignant cell–fibroblast crosstalk driving cachexia in pancreatic cancer,” will investigate how different types of CAFs contribute to the development of cachexia and how they interact with cancer cells to drive this weight-loss syndrome.
Acknowledging that patients with pancreatic cancer are the most affected by cachexia, this project shall provide Debasmita with a unique opportunity to identify novel therapeutic targets for cachexia and thereby improve survival and quality of lives of pancreatic cancer patients.