Study on the drug development for tumor immunotherapy based on immune-restoring activity of a plant ingredient betulin.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15K08041
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Drug development chemistry
Research Institution	Toyama Prefectural Institute. for Pharmaceutical Research.
Principal Investigator	Ogasaawara Masaru 富山県薬事研究所, 主任研究員 (30443427)
Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha)	Nagai Yoshinori 富山大学, 大学院医学薬学研究部(医学), 准教授 (30431761)
Project Period (FY)	2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,940,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,140,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Keywords	癌 / ベツリン / 腫瘍 / PD-L1
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Various factors dampen antitumor activity of immune cells in tumor microenvironment. Here we examined the antitumor mechanism of a derivate A of a plant product, betulin, which has recovering activity against immune cells suppressed by tumor. A derivative A remarkably inhibited the growth of EG7 cells subcutaneously implanted in mice. Moreover, increased expression of PD-L1 on EG7 cells is suggested to be responsible for augmentation of the antitumor activity of anti-PD-1 antibody.