Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a disease characterized by hypovascularization and poor perfusion. Malignant and stromal PDAC cells actively suppress vascularization and impair blood vessel function resulting in cancers that are amongst the most poorly perfused. The profound limitations in perfusion cause metabolic stresses in the tumor microenvironment (TME) that influences the behavior and biology of both PDAC and stromal cells. I will discuss our team's work measuring the metabolic content of the TME to identify the metabolic stresses that malignant and stromal cells face. I will also discuss our efforts to develop model systems that incorporate TME metabolic stress and the findings we have made regarding the role of metabolic stress in drug response using these model systems.

Learning Objectives:

1. Identify that the tumor microenvironment of solid tumors contains abnormal levels of nutrients.

2. Discuss how abnormal access to nutrients in tumors affects the biology of cancer cells.

3. Discuss how nutrient starvation in tumors affects the response of cancer cells to chemotherapeutics.