Elucidation of Molecular Mechanisms of Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition and Its Clinical Application in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

• Project/Area Number: 25861160
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General surgery
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: YAMASHITA Nami 九州大学, 大学病院, 医員 (60608967)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000); Fiscal Year 2013: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: トリプルネガティブ乳癌 / 上皮間葉系移行 / vimentin / E-cadherin / EMT / Axl / triple-negative乳癌 / basal-like乳癌

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The treatment of patients with TNBC has been challenging due to the absence of these molecular targets and the heterogeneity of the disease. The aim of our study is to elucidate the clinical importance of the expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in breast cancer.The elevated expression of vimentin contributes to the aggressive phenotype and poor prognosis in TNBC and basal-like breast cancer. Vimentin expression might be useful as a biomarker for the prognosis of TNBC. Also, co-expression of E-cadherin and vimentin seems to be associated with the most aggressive phenotype in breast cancer, and positive E-cadherin expression may not always play roles for tumor suppression. Vimentin and related molecule will be a good target to control the invasion and metastasis in TNBC.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Molecular mechanisms regulating the hormone sensitivity of breast cancer. (2014)
  • Author(s): Tokunaga E1, Hisamatsu Y, Tanaka K, Yamashita N, Saeki H, Oki E, Kitao H, Maehara Y.
  • Journal Title: Cancer Sci. Volume: 105(11) Issue: 11 Pages: 1377-1377
  • DOI: 10.1111/cas.12521
  • Peer Reviewed / Acknowledgement Compliant
• [Journal Article] Overexpression of metadherin/MTDH is associated with an aggressive phenotype and a poor prognosis in invasive breast cancer. (2014)
  • Author(s): Tokunaga E, Nakashima Y, Yamashita N, Hisamatsu Y, Okada S, Akiyoshi S, Aishima S, Kitao H, Morita M, Maehara Y.
  • Journal Title: Breast Cancer Volume: 21 Issue: 3 Pages: 341-349
  • DOI: 10.1007/s12282-012-0398-2
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] Vimentin as a poor prognostic factor for triple-negative breast cancer. (2013)
  • Author(s): Yamashita N, Tokunaga E, Kitao H, Hisamatsu Y, Taketani K, Akiyoshi S, Okada S, Aishima S, Morita M, Maehara Y.
  • Journal Title: J Cancer Res Clin Oncol Volume: 139 Issue: 5 Pages: 739-746
  • DOI: 10.1007/s00432-013-1376-6
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] Clinical significance of co-expression of E-cadherin and vimentin in invasive breast cancer. (2015)
  • Author(s): Nami Yamashita, Eriko Tokunaga, Yuka Inoue, Kimihiro Tanaka, Yuichirou Nakashima, Kouji Ando, Kippei Ohgaki, Hiroshi Saeki, Eiji Oki, Yoshihiko Maehara
  • Organizer: 14 th St. Gallen International Breast Cancer Conference Primary Therapy of Early Breast Cancer
  • Place of Presentation: Vienna
  • Year and Date: 2015-03-18 – 2015-03-21
• [Presentation] Significance of E-cadherin and vimentin expression in invasive breast cancer. (2014)
  • Author(s): Nami Yamashita, Eriko Tokunaga,Yuka Inoue, Kimihiro Tanaka, Yuichiro Nakashima,Kouji Ando, Kippei Ohgaki, Hiroshi Saeki, Eiji Oki, Yoshihiko Maehara
  • Organizer: 第73回日本癌学会学術総会
  • Place of Presentation: 横浜
  • Year and Date: 2014-09-25 – 2014-09-27
• [Presentation] トリプルネガティブ乳癌におけるBRCA1機能不全の分子機序 (2014)
  • Author(s): 山下奈真、徳永えり子、武谷憲二、田中仁寛、安藤幸滋、木村和恵、佐伯浩司、沖 英次、森田勝、楠本哲也、前原喜彦
  • Organizer: 第21回日本乳癌学会学術総会
  • Place of Presentation: 大阪
  • Year and Date: 2014-07-10 – 2014-07-12
• [Presentation] The clinical importance of BRCA1 promoter methylation and LOH in breast cancer. (2014)
  • Author(s): Nami Yamashita, Eriko Tokunaga, Kimihiro Tanaka, Hiroyuki Kitao, Kouji Ando, Shuhei Ito, Hiroshi Saeki, Eiji Oki, Masaru Morita, Yoshihiko Maehara
  • Organizer: 第114回日本外科学会定期学術術集会
  • Place of Presentation: 京都
  • Year and Date: 2014-04-03 – 2014-04-05
• [Presentation] トリプルネガティブ乳癌の多様性とその分子機序 (2013)
  • Author(s): 山下奈真、徳永えり子、武谷憲二、安藤幸滋、木村和恵、佐伯浩司、沖 英次、
  • Organizer: 第113回日本外科学会定期学術集会
  • Place of Presentation: 福岡
• [Presentation] Vimentin as a poor prognostic factor for triple negative breast cancer. (2013)
  • Author(s): Nami Yamashita, Eriko Tokunaga, Hiroyuki Kitao, Yuichi Hisamatsu, Kenji Taketani, Sayuri Akiyoshi, Satoko Okada, Shinichi Aishima, Masaru Morita, Yoshihiko Maehara
  • Organizer: ASCO annual meeting 2013
  • Place of Presentation: Chicago
• [Presentation] トリプルネガティブ乳癌におけるvimentin発現の意義 (2013)
  • Author(s): 山下奈真、徳永えり子 、田中仁寛 、武谷憲二 、安藤幸滋、佐伯浩司 、沖英次、森田勝、前原喜彦
  • Organizer: 第22回日本がん転移学会学術集会・総会
  • Place of Presentation: 松本