The Science of Childhood Cancer

Metabolic rewiring driving metastasis formation

Lecture date: August 27, 2026

Sarah-Maria Fendt, PhD

Group Leader, VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology

Metastasis formation is the leading cause of death in cancer patients. We find that metabolic rewiring is a liability of metastasizing cancer cells. For example, we discovered that extracellular remodeling of the metastatic niche, a process essential to metastasis formation, requires a transcriptional-independent regulation via the metabolites. Moreover, we provide knowledge on intratumor heterogeneity of metabolism and its role in pre-metastatic niche and metastasis formation. Thus, we study the metabolism of metastasizing cancer cells with the goal to define novel therapeutic strategies.