Circulating tumor cell-based tailor-made therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

• Project/Area Number: 22590736
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Gastroenterology
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Shinichiro 岡山大学, 岡山大学病院, 助教 (70514230)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): FUJIWARA Toshiyoshi 岡山大学, 大学院・医歯薬学総合研究科, 教授 (00304303) ; NOUSO Kazuhiro 岡山大学, 大学院・医歯薬学総合研究科, 准教授 (10314668) ; SHIRAHA Hidenori 岡山大学, 岡山大学病院, 講師 (40379748)
• Project Period (FY): 2010 – 2012
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,420,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,020,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2010: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: テロメスキャン / 肝細胞癌 / circulating tumor cell / h TERT / ソラフェニブ

Research Abstract

We detected telomerase-positive cells in the peripheral blood of hepatocellular carcinoma using a new method “TelomeScan”. We confirmed that most of the cells we detected were circulating tumor cells, which was a promising marker of metastasis. Interestingly, we detected the cells even in early stages, indicating another factor is needed to form metastatic lesions. We could not completely overcome the problems of false-positive and false negative and they must be addressed in the future.