How high-fat diets affect colorectal cancer spread
Official title: Dietary Control of the Pro-Metastatic Niche in Colorectal Cancer
Funded at Albert Einstein College of Medicine · NIH-11457104 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This work looks at whether high‑fat, obesity‑promoting diets make colorectal cancer more likely to spread to the liver, focusing on tumors with common human mutations.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Albert Einstein College of Medicine NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Bronx, United States) |
| Project start | January 19, 2024 |
| Project end | December 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $249,000 |
| NIH project number | 4R00CA287057-03 |
| Project ID | NIH-11457104 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
People with colorectal cancer—especially those interested in links between diet, obesity, and metastasis or whose tumors carry mutations like APC, KRAS, or p53—are most relevant to this research.
✕Less likely to help
People without colorectal cancer or whose tumor biology is very different from the mutations modeled here are unlikely to directly benefit from this work.
What this research studies
Researchers grow tumors from organoids engineered with common human colorectal cancer mutations and place them into colons using an orthotopic transplantation method that mimics human tumors. They feed the hosts high‑fat, obesity‑promoting diets to see how diet changes tumor behavior and the tendency to form liver metastases. The team profiles tumors and their environments with single‑cell RNA sequencing, uses CRISPR knockouts to test specific genes, and performs untargeted metabolite analysis to find diet-related metabolic shifts. Together these methods aim to reveal how diet creates a pro‑metastatic niche and which molecular pathways drive spread.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: Could identify diet-driven pathways or targets that lead to new ways to prevent or slow liver metastasis in colorectal cancer patients.
How similar studies have gone: Epidemiologic studies connect obesity to worse colorectal cancer outcomes, but using organoid transplantation combined with single‑cell genomics and CRISPR to pinpoint diet-driven metastatic mechanisms is relatively new.
Where this research is happening
-
Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Bronx, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Goswami, Swagata — Albert Einstein College of Medicine
- Study coordinator: Goswami, Swagata
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.