| Budget Amount *help |
¥5,200,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,200,000)
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: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
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| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
ADAMs (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) are a family of proteases involved in ectodomain shedding that play a role in various biological processes such as cell adhesion and migration. We examined the effect of ADAM protease inhibitors on the modulation of melanogenesis in normal human epidermal melanocytes (NHEM). In NHEMs, melanin content was reduced by treatment with ADAM protease inhibitors. Electron microscopy showed that the number of fibrillar and mature melanosomes was significantly reduced and that the vacuolar compartments were filled with dense unstructured aggregates after treatment with ADAM protease inhibitors. We therefore focused on the processing of PMEL17, a melanosomal glycoprotein that forms a fibrillar matrix on which melanin gets deposited. We found that ADAM protease inhibitors exerted effects on the processing of C-terminal and N-terminal fragments of PMEL17.
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