Physician Investigator (Cl) Cancer Center, Mass General Research Institute

Associate Professor of Medicine Harvard Medical School

Associate Physician Medicine-Hematology/Oncology, Massachusetts General Hospital

MD University of Athens 1985

basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors; carcinoma renal cell; clusterin; kidney neoplasms; ligases; polysaccharides; tumor suppressor proteins; ubiquitin-protein ligases; von hippel-lindau disease; von hippel-lindau tumor suppressor protein

The Iliopoulos laboratory works on the main mechanisms underlying the reprogramming of cancer cell metabolism and cancer angiogenesis with the goal to develop mechanism-based strategies for selectively killing cancer cells. We use Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) as a model disease of altered cancer metabolism and angiogenesis mechanisms. Cancer cells transform their metabolism to adapt to the needs of fast growth and to compete with the surrounding normal cells for nutrients and oxygen. In addition to a reprogrammed metabolism, cancer cells stimulate the growth of new blood vessels that bring blood to them, a phenomenon known for many years as “cancer angiogenesis”. The laboratory identifies and validates therapeutic targets that disrupt these processes.