Elgendy Lab - Translational Oncology

Translational Oncology

Research Focus

“Energy and persistence conquer all things”
Benjamin Franklin.

This quote is particularly true in the case of cancer. Cancer cells require dramatically high levels of energy and biomass to fuel their rapid growth.

We are fascinated by how tumors adapt their metabolism to flourish in a metabolically-harsh environment. Our group investigates different aspects of tumor metabolism. Particularly, we are interested to study how some tumors flexibly adapt their metabolism to overcome metabolic challenges during the course of tumorigenesis. We aim to dissect molecular mechanisms of metabolic plasticity. We also aim to unravel the contribution of metabolic adaptations to cancer cell’s metastatic potential and anti-cancer drug resistance, two most devastating processes in cancer management. Our goal is to exploit this understanding to tailor novel therapeutic strategies for testing in clinical trials.

Specific expertise

Tumor metabolism
Metabolic plasticity
Metabolic alterations mediating metastasis and resistance to anti-cancer chemo- and immuno-therapy

Lab Members

Dr. Elgendy, Mohammed	Group leader	E-Mail
Dr. Bhavuk Dhamija	Postdoc	E-Mail
Dikhan Yesmukhanov	MSc student	E-Mail

Professional Experience

Since 2019: Group leader, Medical Clinic I, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Faculty of Medicine, Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
2019: Research fellow, Institute of Molecular Genetics, Prague, Czech Republic
2015 - 2018: INDICAR programme fellow and Project Leader – University of Vienna, Austria
2011 - 2015: Post-doc, Experimental Oncology, European Institute of Oncology – Milan, Italy
2007 - 2011: PhD – Molecular Medicine/Genetics, EU-funded Marie Curie Research Training Network ApopTrain, Dept. of Genetics, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
2007: MSc of Molecular Medical Biotechnology, Ghent University, Belgium

Selected Publications

Whole Exome Sequencing and Machine Learning germline analysis of individuals presenting with extreme phenotypes of high and low risk of developing tobacco-associated lung adenocarcinoma. Ana Patiño; Elizabeth Guruceaga; Maria Pilar Andueza; Marimar Ocon; Jafait Junior Fodop Sokoudjou; Nicolas de Villalonga Zornoza; Gorka Alkorta; Ibon Tamayo Uria; Alfonso Gurpide; Carlos Camps; Eloisa Jantus; Maria Navamuel Andueza; Miguel F Sanmmamed; Ignacio Melero; Mohamed Elgendy; Juan Pablo Fusco; Javier Zulueta; Juan Pablo de Torres; Gorka Bastarrika; Luis Seijo; Ruben Pio; Luis Montuenga; Mikel Hernaez; Idoia Ochoa; Jose Luis Perez Gracia eBioMedicine Apr;102:105048. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.105048.

Caloric restriction leads to druggable LSD1-dependent 2 cancer stem cells expansion. Rani Pallavi , Elena Gatti, Tiphanie Durfort , Massimo Stendardo, Roberto Ravasio, Tommaso Leonardi, Paolo Falvo, Bruno Achutti Duso , Simona Punzi , Aobuli Xieraili , Doriana Verrelli , Deborah Trastulli , Mohamed Elgendy , Mario Varasi , Marco Giorgio , Luisa Lanfrancone , Saverio Minucci , Luca Mazzarella Nature Communications. 2024 Jan 27;15(1):828. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-44348.

Riccardo Cazzoli, Francesco Romeo , Isabella Pallavicini , Sebastiano Peri , Mauro Romanenghi , Juan Alberto Pérez-Valencia, Eman Hagag, Filippo Ferrucci, Mohamed Elgendy, Orazio Vittorio, Salvatore Pece , Marco Foiani , Jukka Westermarck, and Saverio Minucci. Inhibition Of Mitochondrial Complex I Leads To Activation Of Pp2a Oncosuppressive Functions Through Ros-Dependent Dissociation And Subsequent Degradation By Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy Of The Endogenous Pp2a Inhibitor Cip2a. Cell Reports. 2023 Jun 27;42(6):112616.
Elgendy M.*, CiròM., Mazzarella L., Ferrari E., DeCensi A., Bonanni B., Janssens V., Pelicci P.G., Foiani M. and Minucci S*. Combination of hypoglycemia and metformin impairs tumor metabolic plasticity and growth by modulating PP2A-GSK3ß-MCL-1 axis. 2019 Cancer Cell. 13;35(5):798-815.e5

*Co-corresponding authors

-Reviewed in: Teaching an Old Drug New Tricks. Cancer Cell. 2019 May 13;35(5):709-711. doi: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.04.008.

-Highlights in Italian mainstream media: LaRepubblica

Elgendy M.^#, Pablo Fusco J.P.^#, Segura V., Lozano M.D., Minucci S., Echeveste J.I., Gurpide A., Andueza M., Melero I., Sanmamed M. F., Ruiz M.R., Calvo A., Pascual J.I, Velis J. M., Miñana B., Pio R., Agorreta J., Patiño A., Jose Luis Perez-Gracia J. L. Identification of mutations associated with acquired resistance to sunitinib in renal cell-cancer. 2019 International Journal of Cancer. 1;145(7):1991-2001
Elgendy M.*^,#,Abdel-Aziz A.K.^#, Renne S.L., Bornaghi V., Procopio G., Colecchia M., Kanesvaran R., Toh C.K., Bossi D., Pallavicini I., Perez-Gracia J.L., Lozano M.D., Giandomenico V., Mercurio C., Lanfrancone L., Fazio N., Nole F., Teh B.T., Renne G., Minucci S*. Dual modulation of MCL-1 and mTOR determines the response to sunitinib. 2017 Journal of Clinical Investigation 127(1):153-168 *Co-corresponding authors

- Reviewed in:

-Targeted therapy: Sunitinib modulates MCL-1 and mTOR signalling. Sidaway P. Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2017 Feb;14(2):70. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2016.208.

- The yin yang of sunitinib: one drug, two doses and multiple outcomes. 2017 Molecular and Cellular Oncology 23;4 (2):e1285385 doi: 10.1080/23723556.2017.1285385

-Highlights in Italian mainstream media: LaRepubblica, La Stampa.

Elgendy M., Ciro M., Saad Eldin A., Belmonte G., Dal Zuffo R., Mirraco C., Mercurio C., Lanfrancone L., Foiani M and Minucci S. Beclin 1 restrains tumorigenesis through Mcl-1 destabilization in an autophagy-independent reciprocal manner.2014 Nature Communications 5:5637. doi: 10.1038/ncomms6637

-Reviewed in: Autophagy-independent role of Beclin 1 in promoting Mcl-1 degradation contributes to its tumor suppressor effect. 2015 Autophagy 11:3, 581-582

Elgendy M., Sheridan C., Brumati G. and Martin S.J. Oncogenic Ras-Induced Expression of Noxa and Beclin-1 Promotes Autophagic Cell Death and Limits Clonogenic Survival. 2011 Molecular Cell 42(1), 23 – 35.

Reviewed in:

- One Way or Another, Ras Is Gonna Getcha. 2011 Cell 144,631-633

-Autophagy: Limiting factors. 2011 Nature Reviews Cancer 11, 313

-Autophagy in Ras-Induced Malignant Transformation: Fatal or Vital? 2011 Molecular Cell 42(1), 1-3 d

-Public press: Irish Times, Irish Examiner.

-This work was recognized with the Young Researcher of the Year Prize from Berlucchi Foundation (8000 euro and a gold medal)

Abdel-Aziz A.K., Abdel-Naim A.B., Shouman S., Minucci S.*, Elgendy M.* From Resistance to Sensitivity: Insights and Implications of Biphasic Modulation of Autophagy by Sunitinib. 2017 Frontiers in Pharmacology doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00718 *Corresponding author.

Funding and Awards

	2012: Award from Berlucchi Foundation for cancer research
	2019: European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant: ONco-Energetics_OFF – Dissection of Bioenergetic Plasticity of Tumors Press release (TUD)
	2019: Awarded fellowship to the Mildred Scheel Early Career Center
	2020: Umberto Veronesi Award
	2022: German Research Foundation (DFG): Research Grant: Investigation of Novel Roles for Pro-Survival protein Mcl-1 in Tumor Metabolism (Project number 491526833)

Selected Collaborations

Name	Institute	Collaboration theme
Prof. Jose Luis Perez-Gracia	Department of Oncology, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Spain	Clinical Collaborator (Metabolism-Immunotherapy)
Dr. Ludek Sefc	Charles University in Prague, Czechia	In vivo metabolic imaging
Dr. Camille Bigenwald	Institut Gustave Roussy, France	Clinical Collaborator (Metabolism-Immunotherpay-Metagenomics)
Dr. Anna Schurich	King's College London, UK	Cancer Immunometabolism
Dr. Laura Bindila	University of Mainz	Lipidomics-Metabolomics
Prof. Saverio Minucci	European Institute of Oncology	Epigentic control of metabolism
Dr. Stefan Stremitzer	Medical University of Vienna, Austria	Clinical Collaborator (Metabolism-chemoresistance)
Prof. Nese Atabey	Izmir Biomedicine and Genome Center, Turkey	Metabolic determinants of Metastasis
Prof. Wolfram Weckwerth	Vienna Metabolomics Center, Austria	Metabolomics-Proteomics
Prof. Wassim Kassouf	McGill University Health Center	Clinical Collaborator (Metabolism-Radiotherapy)
Dr. Libor Macurek	Institute of Molecular Genetics- Czechia	Metabolism-DNA Repair