We are pleased to invite you to our next seminar, in the IPGG amphitheater, on Thursday, June 18, 2026 at 3 pm.
Please note that it is part of a thematic day jointly organized with Thermo, « Unlocking deeper insights across Omics and Biopharma — Bringing ASMS 2026 news to your lab. » Full-day attendance requires free registration for logistical/organizational purposes. The full program is below, at the end of this message.
Mass spectrometry –based proteomics and metabolomics unveil metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer cells Angela Bachi, IFOM ETS – The AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology, Milan, Italy
Lipid metabolism is often deregulated in cancer. Indeed, enhanced lipid synthesis, storage, and uptake contribute to cancer proliferation, survival, invasion, and metastasis¹. The rewiring of lipid metabolism in cancer has been linked to the activation of oncogenic signaling pathways as well as to crosstalk with the tumor microenvironment²; however, the mechanism by which cancer cells become addicted to lipids remains largely unknown. Through comparative analysis of proteins secreted by metastatic and primary melanoma cell lines, our group recently found that BACE2 shedding activity is linked to the secretion of proteins related to lipid metabolism. From global lipidomic profiles of melanoma cell lines obtained using an in-house optimized LC-MS method, Opti-nQL⁴, we found that metastatic melanoma cells — which express higher levels of BACE2 than the primary ones — are enriched in cholesterol and triglycerides and accumulate lipid droplets. By proteomic analysis, we detected increased expression of enzymes involved in cholesterol and fatty acid regulation. As BACE2 is a sheddase, we focused on its specific role and, through spatial proteomics and N-terminomics, discovered that BACE2 regulates the level of lipid transporters at the membrane, tuning lipid uptake from the extracellular space⁵. Our study reveals the role of BACE2 as a modulator of lipid metabolism in cancer.
References:
1 Xueli Bian, Rui Liu, Ying Meng, Dongming Xing, Daqian Xu, Zhimin Lu; Lipid metabolism and cancer. J Exp Med 4 January 2021; 218 (1): e20201606. doi: https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20201606
2 Fu Y, Zou T, Shen X, Nelson PJ, Li J, Wu C, Yang J, Zheng Y, Bruns C, Zhao Y, Qin L, Dong Q. Lipid metabolism in cancer progression and therapeutic strategies. MedComm (2020). 2020 Dec 24;2(1):27-59. doi: 10.1002/mco2.27.
3 Matafora V, Farris F, Restuccia U, Tamburri S, Martano G, Bernardelli C, Sofia A, Pisati F, Casagrande F, Lazzari L, Marsoni S, Bonoldi E, Bachi A. Amyloid aggregates accumulate in melanoma metastasis modulating YAP activity. EMBO Rep. 2020 Sep 3;21(9):e50446. doi: 10.15252/embr.202050446.
4 Cattaneo A, Martano G, Restuccia U, Tronci L, Bianchi M, Bachi A, Matafora V. Opti-nQL: An Optimized, Versatile and Sensitive Nano-LC Method for MS-Based Lipidomics Analysis. Metabolites. 2021 Oct 21;11(11):720. doi: 10.3390/metabo11110720.
5 Matafora V. Elhagh A, Morelli A, Tronci L, Cattaneo A, Conti C, Casagrande F, Farris F, Bachi A. BACE2 tunes lipid uptake through lipid transporters shedding supporting cancer cell proliferation. J Exp Clin Cancer Res. 2026 Jan 8. doi: 10.1186/s13046-025-03626-x.
Full day program:
Registration 
Morning live streaming from Thermo
10:00 Thomas Moehring Ph.D., Thermo Fisher Scientific – Introduction and ASMS updates
10:15 Barbora Piskláková, PhD, Oslo University Hospital Research – Hospital population-derived
plasma reference material for clinical metabolomics and its expanded metabolic coverage
using enhanced dynamic range scan mode
10:40 Corentin Beaumal, PhD, NIBRT – Leveraging Orbitrap Tribrid mass spectrometer
capabilities for comprehensive antibody-based biotherapeutics characterisation
11:10 Coffee Break
11:30 Dr. Uli Ohmayer – NEOSphere – High-throughput proteomics and interactomics to discover
and optimize proximity inducing drugs
11:55 Dr. Daniel Waldera-Lupa, ProtaGene – Host Cell Proteins in Biopharma: Analytical
Strategies for Risk Assessment and Product Quality
12:30 Lunch
In-person communications
13 :30 Camille Amoros (Ecole polytechnique Saclay)
Apport de l’Excedion Pro pour l’analyse quantitative et non ciblée de stéroïdes
14 :00 Julia Goepfert (Sanofi Vitry)
Caractérisation des kits ELISA par une approche quantitative d’AP-MS
14 :30 Coffee Break
15 :00 Angela Bachi (IFOM Milan Italy)
Mass spectrometry –based proteomics and metabolomics unveil metabolic vulnerabilities of cancer cells
15 :30 Sandrine Aros (Institut Pasteur Paris)
Title to be confirmed
16:00 End of the event
- This évènement has passed.