Cosimo Commisso

🧪This is a must watch. Please watch tonight's episode @60minutes.bsky.social.

Joan Brugge is an eminent scientist that was one of the first pioneers of 3D culture in breast cancer. She had two of her grants canceled last spring.

We used her protocols to develop our own for our research.

Thrilled to share our new paper published in Cancer Research (@theaacr.bsky.social), led by outstanding work from Priyanka Gupta in our lab. Our study uncovers how stromal aging fundamentally reshapes pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) biology. aacrjournals.org/cancerres/ar...

Organellar pH as an emerging vulnerability to exploit in cancer Cancer cells undergo metabolic reprogramming to sustain their energy demands, and favor glycolysis despite the presence of functional mitochondria. This metabolic shift leads to the rapid production of lactate and protons. If not managed, this accumulation of acidic byproducts would lower the intracellular pH (pHi). To counteract this, cancer cells employ diverse mechanisms to extrude excess protons through membrane transporters, and also sequester them within acidic organelles. Consequently, an alkaline pHi provides cancer cells with a survival advantage by promoting their proliferation, migration, and resistance to cell death. Given the role of organellar acidification in sustaining this altered pH balance, targeting this process represents a potential therapeutic vulnerability in cancer. We explore the mechanisms by which cancer cells maintain pH homeostasis, with a particular focus on organellar pH and its impact on tumor progression. In addition, we assess inhibitors of the key transporters involved in organellar acidification and discuss their therapeutic potential in cancer.

Organellar pH as an emerging vulnerability to exploit in cancer

Join us in sunny California for the 2026 GRC Autophagy meeting! Excited to co-chair with Oliver Florey and vice chairs Helene Knaevelsrud and @robzonculab.bsky.social
Keynote speakers incl. Eileen White, @idikic.bsky.social and Sharon Tooze- Registration is open: link⬇️ www.grc.org/autophagy-in...

Thankful for this amazing group. There are many accomplishments to be proud of this year. Looking forward to the discoveries they will continue to make in the future for pancreatic cancer.

Epigenomic changes are critical non-mutational cancer drivers. Jackie Tang in our lab lead a project to generate a phenotypic roadmap of epigenomic regulators in lung tumorigenesis. Lots of unexpected and interesting tumor suppressors including the HBO1 complex doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24-1565

Transcriptional control of subtype switching ensures adaptation and growth of pancreatic cancer The GLI2 transcription factor is a master regulator of the aggressive basal-like subtype of pancreatic cancer and enables adaptation to oncogenic KRAS ablation.

Thank you for sharing. Very nice to see these results consistent with elifesciences.org/articles/45313

Actually ours was the whole Hulu account not Disney itself.

Oh wow. We were able to cancel ours ok… I think.

PI5P4Kα promotes glucose and iron acquisition to support metabolic fitness in pancreatic cancer PI5P4Kα is a critical metabolic gatekeeper in PDAC, promoting glucose and iron acquisition to support tumor survival. Arora et al. demonstrate that PI5P4Kα suppression disrupts the metabolic flexibili...

Thrilled to share our first collaboration with @bemerling.bsky.social 🎉 Fantastic work by first author Dr. Gurpreet Arora showing how PI5P4Kα fuels pancreatic cancer cell fitness and reveals a new therapeutic vulnerability. www.cell.com/cell-reports...

It’s out!!!!! We hope our review on aging, immunity, and cancer is helpful.

Such a rewarding group effort led by Melissa Dolan, with Kendra Libby, Alison Ringle, and @vangalenlab.bsky.social

So grateful to @gabriellebrewer.bsky.social @natrevcancer.nature.com for her efforts and support

Join us in at Moffitt! The Metabolism Program is recruiting at the Assistant Member (Assistant Professor) level. Review of applications starts September 1st. Please share! Details here: moffitt-cancer-center-careers.hctsportals.com/jobs/1883440...

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That's a wrap on a year as Interim Director of the SBP Cancer Center. I learned a lot—about CCSG, leadership, and myself. Building a strong Center takes great science, a strong team, and real institutional support. Super prepared for complex challenges and leading with purpose!
#Cancer #Leadership

Thanks Jason!

Macropinocytosis maintains CAF subtype identity under metabolic stress in pancreatic cancer Zhang et al. demonstrate that macropinocytosis inhibition induces myCAF-to-iCAF conversion through a metabolically stressed, MEK-ERK-dependent intermediate state. This CAF plasticity remodels the pancreatic tumor microenvironment and improves responses to immunotherapy and chemotherapy, supporting macropinocytosis inhibition as a promising approach for combination treatment strategies in pancreatic cancer.

Online Now: Macropinocytosis maintains CAF subtype identity under metabolic stress in pancreatic cancer

Abstract Book - Salk Institute for Biological Studies Click here for abstract book

Looking forward to the Mechanisms and Models Symposium being held at @salkinstitute.bsky.social in a few days. Amazing set of speakers. Excited to share our work on the tumor stroma, metabolism and aging. #cancer www.salk.edu/events/scien...

A promising advance for pancreatic cancer published Cancer Cell: Blocking macropinocytosis reduces fibrosis around pancreatic tumors, improving immune cell access & boosting response to chemo & immunotherapy in mice. sbpdiscovery.org/press/reshap... @cosimocommisso.bsky.social @yijuan.bsky.social

To distract from your own stress responses (!!!), check out this awesome new study from the Commisso lab linking metabolic stress to regulation of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment! ✨

Macropinocytosis maintains CAF subtype identity under metabolic stress in pancreatic cancer Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) tumors are glutamine deficient, and both tumor cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) rely on this ami…

Excited to share work published in @cp-cancercell.bsky.social by @yijuan.bsky.social showing that macropinocytosis inhibition drives myCAF-to-iCAF conversion, enhancing therapeutic responses in pancreatic cancer. Thank you to our collaborators that contributed! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Super excited to share new review on metabolic stress and adaptations in pancreatic cancer to these stresses from @cssheehan.bsky.social
jci.org/articles/vie... 1/6

I have an awesome PB&J recipe. I should send it in!

Cancer progression through the lens of age-induced metabolic reprogramming - Nature Reviews Cancer In this Perspective, Lazure and Gomes argue that metabolic changes that occur as a result of ageing may shape tumour initiation and progression and the development of metastatic disease.

Super excited to share our newest piece out today @natrevcancer.nature.com linking age-induced metabolic reprogramming to cancer development. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"There's a large literature which shows that the rate of return to public R&D is outsized. It's enormous. Some estimates suggest as much as 50% rate of return to public R&D investments. And really, that was what made America great."

YouTube video by CBS Sunday Morning Saving money vs. saving lives

Ted Koppel interviews my Hopkins colleague Prof. Liz Jaffee, world expert in pancreatic cancer, about the devastating cuts and slow roll out of cancer research funding by the NIH.

See this CBS Sunday morning show video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLwc...

My message to Trump’s NIH Director? No one in America wants us to do LESS cancer research.

No one is asking Trump to make it harder to cure Alzheimer's disease.

Yet Trump is cutting all of this NOW and demanding an $18 BILLION cut to NIH next year. Not on my watch.

Congrats!!

Disabling PSGL-1 abrogates immune suppression and resistance to PD-1 blockade in pancreatic cancer Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal cancer for which there is a critical need to identify novel therapeutic targets. Herein we define PSGL-1 as a checkpoint inhibitor using a syngeneic...

🚨 New paper out! PSGL-1 is a 🔥 immune checkpoint in pancreatic cancer. Knocking it out=more CD8+ T cells, less tumor, better PD-1 response. 🧬Major props to @jlhope.bsky.social (Drexel) & Linda Bradley (SBP) for leading this awesome collab! #PDAC #Immunotherapy #Tcells www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

PCSK9 drives sterol-dependent metastatic organ choice in pancreatic cancer - Nature PCSK9 regulates low density lipoprotein-cholesterol import and determines organ preference of metastatic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, with PCSK9-low cells metastasizing to the liver and PCSK9-hig...

new out in Nature today www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Important new work from @rushika-perera.bsky.social and team that sheds light on metastatic tropism is PDAC.

Thank you Ashi!