NAmur Research Institute for LIfe Sciences
Marc Hennequart
Cancer metabolism
Exploring metabolic vulnerabilities in cancer for therapeutic targeting and early detection
Prof. Marc Hennequart PhD
UNamur, Department of medicine, Molecular Physiology Research Unit (URPhyM), Cancer metabolism lab
Research portal UNamur | ORCID | ResearchGate | LinkedIn
Expertise and research interests
Holding a PhD in Biomedical sciences from the UCLouvain, Marc Hennequart is an experienced researchers in the field of cancer biology. His doctoral research, conducted at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Brussels, aimed at deciphering the pathways that lead to IDO1 constitutive expression in human cancer cells. After his PhD thesis, he pursued his academic career at The Francis Crick Institute in London. As a postdoctoral fellow, he explored the role of serine and one-carbon metabolism in cancer cell migration and metastasis, focusing on the mitochondrial enzyme ALDH1L2.
In September 2023, Marc Hennequart joined the UNamur as newly appointed Professor in Biochemistry and Cell biology for the bachelors in medicine and veterinary medicine. In parallel to his teaching activities, he will start establishing his own research group. In the continuity of his previous work, his future team will investigate the metabolic pathways of amino acid degradation and their roles in cancer.
Group members
Research scientist: Dr. Isabelle Hamer
PhD student: Johanna Quintana Latorre
Master student: Charlotte Etienne
Technicians: Virginie Tevel and Valérie Migeot
Research projects
- Harnessing the metabolic switch that occurs in early pancreatic cancer events for therapy and detection. In collaboration with Dr. Abdenor Badaoui, CHU UCL Namur, site Godinne.
- Effect of indoor and outdoor volatile organic polutants on human lung disease.
- Studying the metabolic contribution of tryptophan catabolism (IDO1/TDO2) in physiolical conditions of culture by Mass-spectrometry.
Selected publications
Lee Y, Vousden KH, Hennequart M. Cycling back to folate metabolism in cancer. Nat Cancer. 2024 May;5(5):701-715.
Hennequart M, Pilley SE, Labuschagne CF, Coomes J, Mervant L, Driscoll PC, Legrave NM, Lee Y, Kreuzaler P, Macintyre B, Panina Y, Blagih J, Stevenson D, Strathdee D, Schneider-Luftman D, Grönroos E, Cheung EC, Yuneva M, Swanton C, Vousden KH. ALDH1L2 regulation of formate, formyl-methionine, and ROS controls cancer cell migration and metastasis. Cell Rep. 2023 May 26;42(6):112562.
Hennequart M, Labuschagne CF, Tajan M, Pilley SE, Cheung EC, Legrave NM, Driscoll PC, Vousden KH. The impact of physiological metabolite levels on serine uptake, synthesis and utilization in cancer cells. Nat Commun. 2021 Oct 26;12(1):6176.
Hennequart M, Pilotte L, Cane S, Hoffmann D, Stroobant V, Plaen E, Van den Eynde BJ. Constitutive IDO1 Expression in Human Tumors Is Driven by Cyclooxygenase-2 and Mediates Intrinsic Immune Resistance. Cancer Immunol Res. 2017 Aug;5(8):695-709.
