Serum exosomal non-coding RNAs as novel biomarkers for non- viral hepatocellular carcinoma

• Project/Area Number: 26861060
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Kohno Keisuke 筑波大学, 医学医療系, 講師 (70615038)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: エクソソーム / アンチセンスRNA / 非B非C肝癌 / ncRNA / 早期診断

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recent studies have shown that circulating non-coding RNAs are a potential biomarker in various types of malignancies. Natural antisense transcripts have important cellular functions such as the stabilization and silencing of mRNA. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility of using serum exosomal natural antisense RNAs as novel serological biomarkers for non-viral hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients. We measured the serum exosomal natural antisense RNAs in patients with non-viral HCC(n=30). The expression levels of natural antisense RNA was subjected to expression profile analysis of sense and antisense transcripts using a human custom microarray. The expression of the natural antisense transcripts found to be clearly separated into different clusters. The expression levels are quantified by real-time PCR.
This study suggests that serum exosomal natural antisense RNAs may be used as novel serological biomarkers for non-viral HCC.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Antisense RNA in blood is a new diagnostic marker for colorectal cancer. (2016)
  • Author(s): Kurokawa T, Kohno K, Nagai K, Chiba M, Pak S, Murata S, Fukunaga K, Yasue H, Ohkohchi N
  • Journal Title: Oncol letters Volume: 印刷中
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access