Cancer cells can spread from a primary tumour to other parts of the body, where the surrounding environment can influence whether they survive and grow.
In this edition of Inside the Synergy Projects 2026, we highlight two collaborative projects looking at this process in different metastatic cancers. One investigates how obesity changes the liver environment and how this may affect liver metastases. The other explores how colorectal cancer cells interact with immune cells when the disease spreads to the peritoneal cavity.
Both projects bring together different areas of expertise to better understand the conditions that allow metastatic cancer to develop and identify possible new approaches to treatment.
Understanding the environment around liver metastases
The liver is a common site for cancer metastases. Its immune system is naturally kept under tight control because the liver continuously filters blood and encounters substances coming from the gut. This can also create conditions in which metastatic cancer cells are able to grow.
Obesity can change the liver environment by affecting its metabolism, inflammatory signals and immune cells. In the project Obesity-driven immunity against liver metastases, Oncode researchers Allard van Renterghem (NKI), Serena Vegna (NKI) and Arjan Bassa (UMC Utrecht) are investigating whether these changes could, in specific circumstances, help the immune system control metastatic cancer cells in the liver.
The researchers will combine patient data, experimental models and metabolic analyses to identify the cells and signals involved. By understanding how these changes influence the growth of liver metastases, the team hopes to uncover new possibilities for preventing or treating metastatic disease in the liver.
Investigating how cancer cells and immune cells communicate
When colorectal cancer spreads to the peritoneal cavity, treatment options are limited. Cancer cells can change the environment around them in ways that suppress the immune response and support tumour growth.
In the project Dissecting cancer cell-macrophage crosstalk in peritoneal metastatic colorectal cancer, Oncode researchers Jinne Pruijs (NKI), Dennis Poel (Amsterdam UMC) and Lila Kondyli (NKI) are investigating how cancer cells communicate with macrophages, a type of immune cell found in this environment.
The researchers will study proteins released by cancer cells and how they interact with macrophages. They will also investigate these interactions using samples from patients with peritoneal metastatic colorectal cancer.
The aim is to identify signals that contribute to the immunosuppressive environment around these metastases. This could reveal potential new targets for treatment and help researchers explore ways to make these tumours more responsive to immunotherapy.
Although the two projects study different types of metastases, both focus on the environment surrounding cancer cells and the role it plays in cancer spread. By understanding these interactions in more detail, the researchers hope to identify new ways to interfere with the conditions that allow metastases to grow.
What the researchers say
Meet the researchers behind these collaborations and discover what excites them most about their projects.
Obesity-driven Immunity Against Liver Metastases
Allard van Renterghem
“This support allows us to pursue an unconventional idea: what if obesity, in very specific situations, could be beneficial? And can we harness these insights to redefine how we prevent and treat liver metastases? It encourages us to embrace the diversity of human bodies and challenge preconceived views of health.”
Serena Vegna
"This award allows me to open an exciting new research direction: asking whether liver inflammation, which I have long studied as a driver of primary liver cancer, can be redirected to fight metastasis. This is possible thanks to a fantastic team combining preclinical liver cancer models, translational immuno-oncology and metabolism.”
Arjan Bassa
"I’m excited to dissect how immuno-metabolic rewiring in the liver shapes metastatic outcomes. This project uniquely links metabolism to immune function in a clinically relevant case. I hope we will learn something that uncovers new ways to treat or prevent metastases."
Dissecting cancer cell-macrophage crosstalk in peritoneal metastatic colorectal cancer
Jinne Pruijs
“In my day-to-day research, I work on mapping cellular interactions in the tumor microenvironment of breast cancer. Being able to apply the methods we optimized to study peritoneal metastases of colorectal cancer is really exciting, especially given the substantial unmet clinical needs of these patients.”
Lila Kondyli
“In my PhD research, I am working on targeted protein degradation strategies in the fight against cancer utilizing interaction and cell-surface proteomics. I am keen to leverage my expertise in this collaborative effort to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the establishment of an immunosuppressive phenotype in peritoneal metastatic colorectal cancer.”
Dennis Poel
"Given the current gap in detailed protein secretome analysis in the peritoneal cavity, I am confident that this collaborative research will enable us to identify key targets for effective treatment of this devastating disease."
About the Oncode Synergy Projects 2026
Inside the Synergy Projects 2026 is a series highlighting the collaborative research projects supported through the Oncode Synergy Projects 2026 programme. Supported through the collaboration between Alpe d'HuZes, KWF and Oncode Institute, the programme brings together Oncode researchers from different institutes and disciplines to develop innovative approaches to cancer research.