Involvement of ER stress in insulin resistance and Arteriosclerosis Acceleration

• Project/Area Number: 25860737
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Metabolomics
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: gao junhong 東北大学, 学際科学フロンティア研究所, 助教 (70455781)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
• Keywords: メタボリクシンドローム / 動脈硬化 / インスリン抵抗性 / 小胞体ストレス / WFS1 / 糖尿病

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study mainly focuses on the role of ER stress in insulin resistance and atherosclerosis as well as the molecular mechanism of how ER stress affects the metabolic syndrome development. WFS1 is known to reduce ER stress. Using WFS1 deficiency mice and cells as research objects, their reaction and signal transduction under different stress conditions such as high fat induced obesity or other oxidative stress and inflammatory stress are systematically investigated. Moreover, the molecular mechanism of WFS1 in the pathogenesis of arteriosclerosis is also studied. Our results suggest that ER stress plays an important role in the pathogenesis of metabolic syndrome.