Project Grant R01CA305930

The National Institutes of Health National Cancer Institute awarded Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai $827,111 on July 21, 2026, under the Cancer Biology Research program (CFDA 93.396) to investigate the role of the proline hydroxylase P4HA2 in metastatic tumor dormancy and the dormancy-to-reactivation transition.

The project examines how dormant disseminated tumor cells regulate collagen extracellular matrix formation through control of proline hydroxylation, hypothesizing that P4HA2 activity regulates collagen proline hydroxylation levels, impacting collagen proteostasis via autophagy activation and contributing to the transition from dormancy to cancer cell reawakening through a pathway involving ALDH4A1 and mitochondrial function. The research employs high-resolution imaging tools, including multiphoton imaging, to study P4HA2's role in dormant tumor cell quiescence and to determine how P4HA2 activity affects autophagy and mitochondrial function during dormancy-to-reactivation transitions.

Work is performed in New York, New York with a period of performance extending from the award date through June 30, 2031. The Cancer Biology Research program provides fundamental information on cancer cause and nature with the expectation of advancing prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment methods, encompassing cancer cell biology, immunology, hematology, etiology, DNA and chromosomal aberrations, tumor biology and metastasis, and structural biology and molecular applications.