Effects of lipids on the function of thymic epithelial cells

• Project/Area Number: 24500979
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Eating habits, studies on eating habits
• Research Institution: University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan
• Principal Investigator: ADACHI Yasuhiro 産業医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (10346546)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OWADA Yuji 山口大学, 大学院・医学系研究科, 教授 (20292211)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥5,460,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,260,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000); Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
• Keywords: 胸腺上皮細胞 / 脂肪酸結合タンパク / FABP / 脂肪酸 / 長鎖不飽和脂肪酸 / 胸腺 / Hmgn1 / 分化誘導

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the present study, we examined the effect of fatty acids and function of fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) in thymopoiesis, morphology and proliferation/differentiation of thymic epithelial cells through the comparison of wild-type (WT) and FABP5-knock out (KO) mice. We found that long chain-polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) and rerinoic acid (RA) promotes proliferation of cultured thymic epithelial cells via FABP5 rather than the specific function of thymic epithelial cells which regulates differentiation of thymocytes.