The ratio of beta catenin to APC in tumor cell

2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 13672429
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Laboratory medicine
• Research Institution: Showa University
• Principal Investigator: TAKAGI Yasushi Showa University, School of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (30138490)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): GOMI Kunihide Showa University, School of Medicine, Professor, 医学部, 教授 (60053980) ; FUKUCHI Kunihiko Showa University, School of Medicine, Associate Professor, 医学部, 助教授 (70181287)
• Project Period (FY): 2001 – 2003
• Keywords: APC / tumor inhibitor gene / colon cancer / cadherin / beta catenin

Research Abstract

In the diagnosis of prognosis of cancer, the assessment of the invasive and metastatic potential in addition to reactivity to the therapy is significant subject in the field of laboratory medicine. To assess the reactivity to the treatment of either radiation therapy or chemotherapy, the integrity of apoptosis pathway is examined. In this purpose, mutation of p53 or the expression of Bc12 is analyzed firstly and then expression of each factor in the apoptosis pathway is analyzed. The obtained data are profitabley utilized for the clinical practice.
For the effective method to assess the invasive and metastatic potential, analysis of the expression of cadherin-beta catenin is considered as a possible candidate. Beta catenin is a multifunctional protein that is both an integral component of adherens junctions and a pivotal member of a signal transduction pathway. The expression level of beta catenin is regulated by ubiquitin-proteasome protein degradation pathway. In the system, tumor suppressor gene APC product contributes the beta catenin degradation.
In recent annual meeting of Japanese Cancer Association, the relation of beta catenin-expression and status of the cancer cells have been discussed. In this study, we attempted to examine the expression of beta catenin and APC using specimens from colon cancer, but did not comprehensive results. Therefore, we summarize the significance of analysis of beta catenin for cancer-diagnosis in laboratory medicine as follows. 1)Detection of the mutation of beta catenin gene in cancer cell. 2)Analysis of the expression level of beta catenin depends on the origin of cancer cell. 3)Analysis of the molecules including APC that regulate the expression of beta catenin.