| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥1,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
|
|---|
| Research Abstract |
I am studying the cell type-specific gene expression mechanism in mast cells, which play important roles in IgE-mediated allergic reaction and are main target of anti-allergic drugs, because the suppression of mast cell-specific genes (especially FceRI) may provide novel tools for the prevention or treatment of allergic diseases. Previously, the study of transcriptional regulation mechanism of FcERI α-chain gene revealed that cooperation between transcription factors GATA-1 and PU.1 is one of mast cell-specific gene regulation mechanism (Nishiyama, J. Immunol. 2002). We also found that repression of GATA-1-dependent transactivation by cofactor FOG-1 causes mast cell-specific gene expression through the analysis of FcERI β-chain gene promoter in the recent study (Maeda, Blood 2006). Involvement of GATA-1 in FcERI expression was confirmed by the analysis of mast cells derived from GATA-1 knockdown mice (kindly provided by Prof. Masayuki Yamamoto, Tsukuba University). In addition, we reported that the expression level of PU.1 not only regulates monocyte-specific genes, but also determines cell fates including morphology and function (Ito, J. Immunol. 2005). Furthermore, we found that mast cells are a crucial source of functional IL-12 during the study of a transcription factor IRF-8, which forms heterodimer with PU.1 (Nakano, Blood, 2007). I was awarded the award for young scientists from Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry in 2005 and from Japanese Society for Allergology in 2006 through the above-mentioned studies.
|
