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2003 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Molecular Mechanism for oral cancer invasion

Research Project

Project/Area Number 14571885
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Surgical dentistry
Research InstitutionOsaka University

Principal Investigator

NAKAHARA Hirokazu  Osaka University Hospital, Assistant Professor, 歯学部附属病院, 助手 (70324796)

Project Period (FY) 2002 – 2003
KeywordsInvasion / metastasis / basement membrane invasion / cytoskeleton / small G protein / invadopodia
Research Abstract

Invadopodia are membrane protrusions into the extracellular matrix by aggressive tumor cells. These structures are associated with sites of matrix degradation and invasiveness of malignant tumor cells in an in vitro fibronectin degradation/invasion assay. In this study, we first demonstrated that invadopodia of RPM17951 human melanoma cells extended into the matrix substratum on a vertical view using a laser scanning confocal microscope system. We confirmed that invadopodia were rich in actin filaments (F-actin) and visualized clearly with F-actin staining on a vertical view as well as on a horizontal view. The Rho family small G proteins, consisting of the Rho, Rac, and Cdc42 subfamilies, are implicated in various cell functions, such as cell shape change, adhesion, and motility, through reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton. We then studied the roles of Rho, Rac, and Cdc42 in invasiveness of the same cell line. In the in vitro fibronectin degradation/invasion assay, a dominant active mutant of Cdc42 enhanced dot-like degradation, whereas a dominant active mutant of Rac enhanced diffuse-type degradation. Furthermore, frabin, a GDP/GTP exchange protein for Cdc42 with F-actin-binding activity, enhanced both dot-like and diffuse-type degradation. However, a dominant active mutant of Rho did not affect the fibronectin degradation. Moreover, inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase (P13K) disrupted the Rac and Cdc42-dependent actin structures and blocked the fibronectin degradation. These results suggest that Cdc42 and Rac play important roles in fibronectin degradation and invasiveness in a coordinate manner through the frabin-Cdc42/Rac-PI3K signaling pathway.

  • Research Products

    (4 results)

All Other

All Publications (4 results)

  • [Publications] Nakahara, H, Otani, T, Sasaki, T, Miura, Y, Takai, Y, Kogo, M: "Involvement of Cdc42 and Rac small G proteins in invadopodia formation of RPMI7951 cells"Gene to Cells. 8. 1019-1027 (2004)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] 三浦康寛, 中原寛和, 大谷朋弘, 吉冨啓一, 古郷幹彦: "癌細胞の基底膜浸潤開始の分子機構-低分子量GTP結合蛋白質Rhoファミリーによる浸潤突起(invadopodia)形成の制御"口腔組織培養学会誌. 12巻1号. 49-50 (2003)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] 中原寛和, 大谷朋弘, 三浦康寛, 松岡裕大, 古郷幹彦: "癌細胞の基底膜浸潤開始の分子機構-低分子量GTP結合蛋白質Rhoファミリーによる浸潤突起(invadopodia)形成の制御"口腔組織培養学会誌. (in press).

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Hirokazu Nakahara, Tomohiro Otani, Takuya Sasaki, Yasuhiro Miura, Yoshimi Takai, Mikihiko Kogo: "Involvement of Cdc42 and Rac small G proteins in invadopodia formation of RPMI7951 cells."Gene to Cells. 8. 1019-1027 (2003)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より

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Published: 2005-04-19  

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