NBIA Colloquium: Stine Falsig Pedersen

Speaker: Stine Falsig Pedersen (Dept. of Biology, Univ. of Copenhagen)

Title: Protons pave the way to aggressive cancers

Abstract: Tumors develop very acidic local micro-environments, owing to the metabolic reprogramming and disordered perfusion that are consequences of the disease. This facilitates further disease progression through the influence of intra- and extra-cellular pH disturbances on multiple aspects of tumour biology, from proliferation over metabolism and cancer stem cells to immune surveillance. The low pH (high proton concentration) microenvironments are stressful to the cancer cells, leading to a sort of Darwinian evolution in tumors, in which the most aggressive cells become acid-resistant and survive. Once this happens, these cells go on to become very aggressive, invasive cancer cells. The low pH not only makes the cancer cells more aggressive, it also reduces the ability of our immune system to combat the cancer cells. However, recently, therapeutic opportunities are emerging that exploit the low tumor pH as a way to target cancer treatments more specifically and limit toxic side effects. This is very interesting because low pH is a general feature of cancers. Here, I present a brief overview of the importance of low tumor pH for cancer development, and of our efforts to unravel the ways that the tumor pH impacts disease aggressiveness. Finally, I discuss possible therapeutic opportunities.

Brief bio-sketch: Stine Falsig Pedersen received her PhD from Copenhagen University in 1998. After research positions and post-doctoral appointments at Lundbeck, August Krogh Institute, and University of California at Davis, she became faculty at the Department of Biology at Copenhagen University in 2003, promoted to Professor in 2013. Stine Falsig Pedersen has served as President of the International Society for Cancer Metabolism (2019-21) and is currently Executive Officer at the Executive Committee of the Scandinavian Physiological Society. Stine Falsig Pedersen was elected member of the Royal Danish Academy of Science and Letters in 2018, and Knight of the Order of the Dannebrog in 2024.