Lactate metabolism and signalling in cancer
Reprogramming of energy metabolism is a key hallmark of cancer. Most cancer cells undergo the Warburg effect, with enhanced glycolytic metabolism and lactate production, which provides…
- Research
- Cancer Biomarkers and Therapeutics
- Julieta Afonso
Julieta Afonso
- Bladder cancer
- Chemoresistance
- Immunotherapy resistance
- Cancer metabolism
- Warburg effect
- Tumor microenvironment
Julieta Afonso completed her PhD in Health Sciences in 2013 by the School of Medicine of the University of Minho, her Master in Oncology in 2008 by Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute of the University of Porto, and her Degree in Applied Biology in 2001 by the School of Sciences of the University of Minho. She has ten years of professional experience as an assistant professor at a polytechnic higher education institute, in the field of Life and Health Sciences. At ICVS, she has been dedicated to unravelling prognosis and predictive biomarkers, as well as therapeutic targets, in urothelial bladder cancer (UBC). Her research on the energetic metabolism reprograming in UBC, using human samples and “in vitro” / “in vivo” UBC models, has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in this field. Currently, she is interested in exploiting microenvironmental metabolic interplays for resistance management in chemo/ immunotherapy-refractory UBC. Also, she has been actively participating, through cancer-related training programs, in the training of undergraduate (medical students) and graduate (MSc and PhD) students. Currently, she supervises 1 PhD student. Since 2013 she has published 21 articles in peer-reviewed journals (13 as first author and 4 as senior author) and 3 sections of books, and has edited 1 book. She was a member of the organizing committee of 3 scientific events (ISCaM 2019, ICVS Retreat 2024, World Cancer Day 2024).
Julieta Afonso
- Bladder cancer
- Chemoresistance
- Immunotherapy resistance
- Cancer metabolism
- Warburg effect
- Tumor microenvironment
Julieta Afonso completed her PhD in Health Sciences in 2013 by the School of Medicine of the University of Minho, her Master in Oncology in 2008 by Abel Salazar Biomedical Sciences Institute of the University of Porto, and her Degree in Applied Biology in 2001 by the School of Sciences of the University of Minho. She has ten years of professional experience as an assistant professor at a polytechnic higher education institute, in the field of Life and Health Sciences. At ICVS, she has been dedicated to unravelling prognosis and predictive biomarkers, as well as therapeutic targets, in urothelial bladder cancer (UBC). Her research on the energetic metabolism reprograming in UBC, using human samples and “in vitro” / “in vivo” UBC models, has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in this field. Currently, she is interested in exploiting microenvironmental metabolic interplays for resistance management in chemo/ immunotherapy-refractory UBC. Also, she has been actively participating, through cancer-related training programs, in the training of undergraduate (medical students) and graduate (MSc and PhD) students. Currently, she supervises 1 PhD student. Since 2013 she has published 21 articles in peer-reviewed journals (13 as first author and 4 as senior author) and 3 sections of books, and has edited 1 book. She was a member of the organizing committee of 3 scientific events (ISCaM 2019, ICVS Retreat 2024, World Cancer Day 2024).
Scientific Highlights
> Afonso J, Barbosa-Matos C, Silvestre R, Pereira-Vieira J, Gonçalves SM, Mendes-Alves C, Parpot P, Pinto J, Carapito Â, Guedes de Pinho P, Santos L, Longatto-Filho A, Baltazar F. Cisplatin-Resistant Urothelial Bladder Cancer Cells Undergo Metabolic Reprogramming beyond the Warburg Effect. Cancers (Basel). 2024 Apr 5; 16(7): 1418. DOI: 10.3390/cancers16071418.
> Silva A, Félix A, Cerqueira M, Gonçalves CS, Sampaio-Marques B, Longatto-Filho A, Baltazar F, Afonso J. Effects of Lactate Transport Inhibition by AZD3965 in Muscle-Invasive Urothelial Bladder Cancer. Pharmaceutics. 2023 Nov 28; 15(12): 2688. DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15122688.
> Tomas Koltai; Larry Fliegel; Stephan J. Reshkin; Fátima Baltazar; Rosa Angela Cardone; Khalid Omer Alfarouk; Julieta Afonso. pH Deregulation as the Eleventh Hallmark of Cancer. Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier. 2023. DOI: 10.1016/C2022-0-01642-1
> Singh, Mamta*; Afonso, Julieta*; Sharma, Dolly; Gupta, Rajat; Kumar, Vivek; Rani, Reshma; Baltazar, Fátima#; Kumar, Vinit#; *#Equal contribution. “Targeting monocarboxylate transporters (MCTs) in cancer: How close are we to the clinics?”. Seminars in Cancer Biology 90 (2023): 1-14. DOI: 10.1016/j.semcancer.2023.01.007
> Afonso, Julieta; Gonçalves, Céline; Costa, Marta; Ferreira, Débora; Santos, Lúcio;Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Baltazar, Fátima. “Glucose Metabolism Reprogramming in Bladder Cancer: Hexokinase 2 (HK2) as Prognostic Biomarker and Target for Bladder Cancer Therapy”. Cancers 15 3 (2023): 982. DOI: 10.3390/cancers15030982
> Silva, Ana*; Cerqueira, Mónica Costa*; Rosa, Beatriz; Sobral, Catarina; Pinto-Ribeiro, Filipa; Costa, Marta Freitas; Baltazar, Fátima#; Afonso, Julieta#; *#Equal contribution. “Prognostic Value of Monocarboxylate Transporter 1 Overexpression in Cancer: A Systematic Review”. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 24, 6 (2023): 5141. DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065141.10.3390
> Ana Silva; Beatriz Antunes; Alberta Batista; Filipa Pinto-Ribeiro; Fátima Baltazar; Julieta Afonso. “In Vivo Anticancer Activity of AZD3965: A Systematic Review”. Molecules (2021): DOI: 10.3390/molecules27010181
> Afonso J, Santos LL, Longatto-Filho A, Baltazar F. Competitive glucose metabolism as a target to boost bladder cancer immunotherapy. Nat Rev Urol. 2020 Feb; 17(2):77-106. DOI: 10.1038/s41585-019-0263-6
> Baltazar, Fátima*; Afonso, Julieta*; Costa, Marta*; Granja, Sara*; *Equal contribution. Lactate Beyond a Waste Metabolite: Metabolic Affairs and Signaling in Malignancy. Front Oncol. 2020 Mar 18; 10:231. DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.00231
> Pereira, Andreia*; Afonso, Julieta*; Granja, Sara*; Baltazar, Fátima*; *Equal contribution. Lactate and lactate transporters as key players in the maintenance of the Warburg effect. In Tumor microenvironment – the main driver of metabolic adaptation, edited by Jacinta Serpa. Springer International Publishing, 2020
> Baltazar, Fátima*; Valente, Diana*; Afonso, Julieta*; Queirós, Odília*; Granja,Sara*; *Equal contribution. New horizons on pH regulators as cancer biomarkers and targets for pharmacological intervention. In An Innovative Approach to Understanding and Treating Cancer: Targeting pH, edited by Tomas Koltai, Stephan J. Reshkin, Salvador Harguindey. Elsevier, 2020
> ISCaM 2019, 6th Annual Meeting – Cancer Metabolic Rewiring: Mapping the Road to Clinical Translation, Braga, Portugal (2019/10/17 – 2019/10/19) – Member of the organizing committee
> Afonso, Julieta; Santos, Lúcio L.; Morais, António; Amaro, Teresina; Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Baltazar, Fátima. Metabolic coupling in urothelial bladder cancer compartments and its correlation to tumor aggressiveness. Cell Cycle. 2016; 15(3):368-80. doi: 10.1080/15384101.2015.1121329
> Award for the best scientific paper published in Acta Urológica Portuguesa, Portuguese Association of Urology, October 2015, sponsored by Bayer (Afonso, J.; Freitas, R.; Lobo, F.; Morais, A.; Amaro, T.; Reis, R.; Baltazar, F.; et al. Evolving hallmarks in urothelial bladder cancer: unveiling potential biomarkers. Acta Urol Port. 2015; 32:1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.acup.2014.12.002.)
> Afonso, Julieta; Santos, Lúcio L.; Miranda-Gonçalves, Vera; Morais, António; Amaro, Teresina; Longatto-Filho, Adhemar; Baltazar, Fátima. CD147 and MCT1-potential partners in bladder cancer aggressiveness and cisplatin resistance. Mol Carcinog. 2015 Nov; 54(11):1451-66. doi: 10.1002/mc.22222
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Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Address
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
GPS: +41° 33′ 47.33″, -8° 24′ 3.39″
Copyright ©2022 ICVS. All Rights Reserved
Address
Life and Health Sciences
Research Institute (ICVS)
School of Medicine,
University of Minho,
Campus de Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
Portugal
GPS: +41° 33′ 47.33″, -8° 24′ 3.39″