Role of lung epithelial Akt signaling in respiratory distress syndrome

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23659536
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Embryonic/Neonatal medicine
Research Institution	Kansai Medical University (2012) Osaka University (2011)
Principal Investigator	SHIOJIMA Ichiro 関西医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (90376377)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥2,340,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥540,000)
Keywords	未熟児医学 / シグナル伝達 / 発生・分化
Research Abstract	Akt is a serine/threonine protein kinase that is activated by insulin and regulates multiple cellular processes including cell growth and glucose metabolism. Overexpression of Akt in lung epithelium resulted in reduced capillary density and downregulation of HIF-2 and VEGF, leading to RDS in preterm infants born by Caesarean section. Treatment with rapamycin restored the expression of VEGF and HIF-2 and improved the lung pathology of transgenic mice. These results suggest that aberrant activation of Akt/mTOR pathway in the lung epithelium plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of RDS.