Cancer cells reprogram lipid metabolism to fuel cell division, adaptation to stress, and metastatic dissemination. NF-κB transcription factors control this mechanism in aggressive Consensus Molecular Subtype (CMS)4 of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) via triacylglycerol (TAG) lipase, carboxylesterase 1 (CES1), thereby linking obesity-associated inflammation with metabolic adaptation and cytoprotection from lipid-induced toxicity. Our findings identify a potential therapeutic route to treat patients with metastasis-prone CRC and provide an example for targeting core tumor subtype-based vulnerabilities in cancers beyond CRC.
IκΒα (the protein product of NFKBIA gene) has widely been considered a pro- apoptotic factor due to its ability to inhibit the anti-apoptotic transcription factor NFκB. Our findings indicate that IκΒα also exerts a strong anti-apoptotic activity at the outer mitochondria membrane (OMM). This function we uncovered is distinct from its ability to sequester and inhibit NFκB. IκΒα instead binds to voltage dependent anion channel 1 (VDAC1) and Hexokinase 2 (HK2), stabilizes this complex and prevents mitochondria outer membrane permeabilisation (MOMP) and apoptosis.
Our recent study revealed that APOBEC3B is upregulated during the preinvasive stages of non-small cell lung cancer and breast cancer. In addition to its role in mediating single nucleotide variants, we propose that APOBEC3 promotes copy number intratumor heterogeneity prior to invasion, providing a substrate for cancer evolution.

