| Project/Area Number |
06045021
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for international Scientific Research
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | University-to-University Cooperative Research |
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| Research Institution | KYOTO UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
TAKEBE Hiraku Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 医学研究科, 教授 (10028318)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
COLE Jane MRC Cell Mutation Unit, University of Sussex, 細胞変異研究所, 助教授
CARR Antony M MRC Cell Mutation Unit, University of Sussex, 細胞変異研究所, 助教授
LEHMANN Alan MRC Cell Mutation Unit, University of Sussex, 細胞変異研究所, 教授
BRIDGES Brian A MRC Cell Mutation Unit, University of Sussex, 細胞変異研究所, 教授
TATSUMI Junko Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 医学研究科, 助手 (80128222)
MIYAKOSHI Junji Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 医学研究科, 助教授 (70121572)
YAGI Takashi Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, 医学研究科, 助教授 (80182301)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1994 – 1996
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| Keywords | epidemiology / DNA repair / xeroderma pigmentosum / leukemia / radiation / gene |
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| Research Abstract |
Molecular epidemiology is a new area of medical science to find the causes and mechanisms of diseases assoicaited with damage in DNA.Radiation causes damage in DNA leading to mutation and cancer. There are human subjects sensitive to radiations. This study intends to analyze changes in DNA in the cancer patients or their cells in relation to DNA repair. Patients with hereditary diseases associated with DNA repair deficiency are generally sensitive to radiations and other environmental agents. Detailed analysis of the patients with xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) in Japan and UK revealed that the sites of mutations responsible for XP are different between the patients in Japan and those in UK.The sites were related to the clinical symptom of the patients. Most of the XP group A patients in Japan had a common mutatio at the end of intron 3 of XPA gene, while XPA patients in UK had mutations in other sites which may not be important for the function of the gene.
High incidence of childhood leukemia in children of the workers at some of nuclear factories has been a very controversial issue in UK during last several years. Prof.B.A.Bridges of University of Sussex, a member of this study group, is chairman of the committee to investigate the case. The committee published a detailed final report in 1996, and Prof. Bridges visited Kyoto University to give a lecture and have discussion on this matter. The leukemia cases were not attributed to the radiations, but other causes were not detected. Molecular epidemiological studies on each case of leukemia may provide clues to the real causes of the disease in future, according to Prof. Bridges, as certain agents are known to cause specific changes in DNA.
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