In vivo visualization of small metastatic lesion in sentinel lymph node using immunological methods

• Project/Area Number: 25670545
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: National Cancer Center Japan
• Principal Investigator: Fujii Hirofumi 国立研究開発法人国立がん研究センター, 先端医療開発センター, 分野長 (80218982)
• Research Collaborator: OHNUKI Kazunobu 国立研究開発法人国立がん研究センター, 先端医療開発センター・機能診断開発分野, RI管理者
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
• Keywords: センチネルリンパ節 / 免疫応答 / 小転移病巣 / 胚中心 / 抗体遺伝子改編酵素 / 分子イメージング / 微小転移 / 転移モデル / 画像診断 / イメージング / 可視化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Imaging of immunological changes inside sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs) might be surrogate in vivo imaging methods of metastatic status of SLNs because most parts of SLNs are occupied by non-tumor cells such as immune cells.
Our study revealed that the number of B cells insides SLNs increases in the early phase of metastases and these B cells tends to form germinal centers (GCs). The results of mouse experiments using EMT6 mammary tumors cells with the expression of tdTomato suggested that these GCs would grow by the reaction to tumor cells.
Our study indicated that imaging of objects that could respond to the growth of tumor cells inside SLNs would be useful to in vivo visualization of metastatic status of SLNs.

Research Products

• [Presentation] マウスモデルを用いたセンチネルリンパ節内免疫反応の経時的解析 (2016)
  • Author(s): 大貫和信, 藤井博史
  • Organizer: 第18回 SNNS研究会学術集会
  • Place of Presentation: 東京都品川区品川シーズンテラスカンファレンス
  • Year and Date: 2016-11-12
• [Presentation] マウスリンパ節転移モデルを用いたセンチネルリンパ節内免疫反応の経時的解析 (2015)
  • Author(s): 大貫和信、藤井博史
  • Organizer: 第17回 SNNS研究会学術集会
  • Place of Presentation: ワークピア横浜（横浜市）
  • Year and Date: 2015-11-13
• [Presentation] マウス転移モデルを用いたセンチネルリンパ節内免疫反応の経時的解析 (2014)
  • Author(s): 大貫和信、藤井博史
  • Organizer: 第16回 SNNS研究会学術集会
  • Place of Presentation: 鹿児島市
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-20
• [Presentation] Time-course analysis of the immune cells in the sentinel lymph node in a mouse model of metastatic melanoma: possibility of the application toward an imaging diagnostic technology.
  • Author(s): Kazunobu Ohnuki, Hirofumi Fujii
  • Organizer: Joint International Oncology Congress
  • Place of Presentation: Hilton San Francisco Financial District （750 Kearny Street San Francisco, USA）
• [Presentation] マウス転移モデルを用いたセンチネルリンパ節内免疫細胞の経時的解析：画像診断技術への応用
  • Author(s): 大貫和信, 藤井博史
  • Organizer: 第15回 SNNS研究会学術集会
  • Place of Presentation: 釧路プリンスホテル（北海道釧路市）
• [Book] Lymph Node Metastasis in Gastrointestinal Cancer (2017)
  • Author(s): Kazunobu Ohnuki, Hirofumi Fujii
  • Publisher: Springer