Starting date: January 2021
Work Programme
The Onco-Metabolomics Team (OMB) fosters multidisciplinary collaborations between epidemiologists, analytical chemists, and statisticians to conceptualize and implement metabolomics-driven molecular epidemiology studies. OMB investigates the role of metabolic perturbations, nutritional and dietary factors, and the exposome in cancer development, and develops and implements liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)-based metabolomics assays to measure metabolites in various biospecimens from epidemiological, clinical, and experimental studies.
OMB’s primary focus is to study the link between metabolites and cancers and cancer-related outcomes, such as obesity and metabolic dysfunction. OMB also aims to improve the understanding of underlying molecular mechanisms of cancer development by identifying exogenous and endogenous biomarkers at the crossroads between dietary, lifestyle, environmental, and metabolic exposures and cancer risk.
Major areas of research include assessing the roles on cancer risk of (i) dietary and lifestyle exposures, (ii) the gut microbiome, including its composition and functionality, (iii) the gut–liver axis, by examining the metabolic impact of the interaction between the gut and the liver, and (iv) metabolic dysfunction in the development of cancers, particularly those of the gastrointestinal tract.
OMB collaborates closely with other Research Teams in NME and within IARC, as well as with large international networks of cancer and metabolic epidemiology. OMB’s training activities in epidemiology and metabolomics include long- and short-term hosting of early-career and visiting scientists.
Team Composition
Team Leaders: Dr Pekka Keski-Rahkonen and Dr Mazda Jenab, Nutrition and Metabolism Branch (NME), IARC
Emails: KeskiP@iarc.who.int; JenabM@iarc.who.int
Team members:
Dr Chrysovalantou Chatziioannou (Scientist, NME)
Dr Semi Zouiouich (Scientist, NME)
Dr Jin Young Park (Scientist, EPR)
Dr Marc Gunter (Visiting Scientist, NME)
Dr Hwayoung Noh (Visiting Scientist, NME)
Dr Federica Bellerba (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Maissane Chikh (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Carolina Duarte Hospital (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Adeline Fontvieille (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Jaye Marchiandi (Postdoctoral Scientist, NME)
Dr Leticia Goni Mateos (Visiting Scientist, NME)
Ms Vanessa Neveu (Senior Research Assistant, NME)
Ms Elizabeth Page (Administrative Assistant, NME)
Ms Nivonirina Robinot (Research Assistant, NME)
Ms Aurélie Salle (Research Assistant, NME)
Key networks: European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) (https://epic.iarc.who.int), DISCERN: Discovering the Causes of Three Poorly Understood Cancers in Europe (https://discern.iarc.who.int), Zero Hidden Hunger EU (https://www.zerohiddenhunger.eu/), COLOMARK Project (https://www.colomark.org/), AddiBugs: Role of the gut microbiota in alcohol dependence: from microbiome signatures to metabolic and neural mechanisms (https://pepr-sams.fr/en/2024/03/26/addibugs-en/), UK Biobank (UKB)
Key funding: World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF), European Commission (EC), United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), French National Research Agency (ANR), Irish Health Research Board (HRB), French National Cancer Institute (INCa), Cancer Research UK (CRUK), German Research Foundation (DFG), and direct funding
Key publications:
- Dansero L, Milani L, Sacerdote C, Ferrari P, Jenab M, Ricceri F (2026). Exploring the syndemic of steatotic liver disease, socioeconomic inequities and cancer risk in the UK Biobank. Liver Int. 46(1):e70458. https://doi.org/10.1111/liv.70458 PMID:41324228
- Matray C, Debras C, Chatziioannou AC, Perlemuter G, Jenab M, Voican CS (2025). Diet habits and hepatocellular carcinoma – potential implication for clinical practice. Nutr Rev. 83(12):2372–88. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuaf129 PMID:40679550
- Aglago EK, Ramos I, Keski-Rahkonen P, Chatziioannou C, Freisling H, Fedirko V, et al. (2025). Alcohol and smoking habits in association with hepatocellular carcinoma risk. Int J Cancer. 157(4):644–57. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.35401 PMID:40098437
- Cheng SL, Hedges M, Keski-Rahkonen P, Chatziioannou AC, Scalbert A, Chung KF, et al. (2024). Multi-omic signatures of traffic related air pollution in London reveal potential short-term perturbations in gut microbiome-related pathways. Environ Sci Technol. 58(20):8771–82. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c09148 PMID:38728551
- Muli S, Schnermann ME, Merdas M, Rattner J, Achaintre D, Perrar I, et al. (2024). Metabolomics signatures of sweetened beverages and added sugar are related to anthropometric measures of adiposity in young individuals: results from a cohort study. Am J Clin Nutr. 120(4):879–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajcnut.2024.07.021 PMID:39059709
- Mayén AL, Sabra M, Aglago EK, Perlemuter G, Voican C, Ramos I, et al. (2024). Hepatic steatosis, metabolic dysfunction and risk of mortality: findings from a multinational prospective cohort study. BMC Med. 22(1):221. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03366-3 PMID:38825687
- Daniel N, Genua F, Jenab M, Mayén AL, Chatziioannou AC, Keski-Rahkonen P, et al. (2024). The role of the gut microbiome in the development of hepatobiliary cancers. Hepatology. 80(5):1252–69. https://doi.org/10.1097/HEP.0000000000000406 PMID:37055022
- Alcolea JA, Donat-Vargas C, Chatziioannou AC, Keski-Rahkonen P, Robinot N, Molina AJ, et al. (2023). Metabolomic signatures of exposure to nitrate and trihalomethanes in drinking water and colorectal cancer risk in a Spanish multicentric study (MCC-Spain). Environ Sci Technol. 57(48):19316–29. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c05814 PMID:37962559
- Aglago EK, Cross AJ, Riboli E, Fedirko V, Hughes DJ, Fournier A, et al. (2023). Dietary intake of total, heme and non-heme iron and the risk of colorectal cancer in a European prospective cohort study. Br J Cancer. 128(8):1529–40. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-023-02164-7 PMID:36759722
- Stepien M, Lopez-Nogueroles M, Lahoz A, Kühn T, Perlemuter G, Voican C, et al. (2022). Prediagnostic alterations in circulating bile acid profiles in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. Int J Cancer. 150(8):1255–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.33885 PMID:34843121