American Cancer Society and Cancer Research UK Support New Collaboration to Advance Cancer Prevention

As part of our recently announced slate of new grantees, the American Cancer Society (ACS) is proud to support a new Biology to Prevention Award in partnership with Cancer Research UK (CRUK). This unique program brings together investigators from the United States and the United Kingdom to tackle critical questions in cancer prevention through collaborative, multidisciplinary research. The award is designed to transform insights from cancer biology into new approaches that help prevent cancer before it starts.

"Some of the greatest opportunities to reduce the burden of cancer lie in preventing the disease before it starts," said Paul Campbell, PhD, Scientific Director of the Cell Biology and Preclinical Cancer Research program at the American Cancer Society. "Through our partnership with Cancer Research UK, the Biology to Prevention Award brings together transatlantic researchers with complementary expertise to inform new approaches to cancer prevention."

The Biology to Prevention Award supports true scientific partnerships between U.S. and U.K.-based investigators, encouraging teams to combine distinct areas of expertise to address important prevention-focused research questions. Through this collaboration, ACS and CRUK are helping accelerate research that could lead to more precise and effective strategies for reducing cancer risk.

This year's award recognizes a collaboration between Drs. Luigi Perelli of Weill Cornell Medicine and Samra Turajlić of The Francis Crick Institute. Together, they will investigate why obesity increases the risk of clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most common form of kidney cancer. Their work seeks to better understand how metabolic changes influence the earliest stages of cancer development and whether existing medications could help interrupt these processes before cancer emerges. A description of their research project is provided below.

By bringing together investigators with complementary expertise and a shared commitment to prevention, this award reflects the power of international collaboration to address some of the most important unanswered questions in cancer research.

Luigi Perelli, Ph.D.

Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Samra Turajlić, Ph.D.

The Francis Crick Institute

Project Title: “Targeting Early Events in Kidney Cancer - Integrating metabolism and immune surveillance for prevention”

This project will investigate why obesity increases the risk of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common type of kidney cancer. While the genetic changes that initiate ccRCC are surprisingly common in normal kidney tissue, most affected cells never develop into cancer. Drs. Perelli and Turajlić will collaborate to study how obesity and metabolic disease alter the kidney environment to promote the survival and expansion of these cancer-initiating cells and will test whether existing diabetes and weight-loss medications can interrupt this process. This work could identify new strategies to prevent kidney cancer in individuals at elevated risk due to obesity and metabolic dysfunction.