Lineage analysis of intestinal stem cells and development of the culture system to study the stem cell niche

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K07136
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Morphology/Structure
• Research Institution: Nippon Medical School
• Principal Investigator: ISHIZUYA-OKA Atsuko 日本医科大学, 医学部, 教授 (50175254)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): HASEBE Takashi 日本医科大学, 医学部, 准教授 (70329027) ; FUJIMOTO Kenta 日本医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (50403580)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 小腸 / 幹細胞 / Ror2 / Wntシグナル経路 / 甲状腺ホルモン / 変態 / 培養 / アフリカツメガエル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the Xenopus laevis intestine during metamorphosis, thyroid hormone (TH) induces some epithelial cells that express Ror2 to dedifferentiate into stem cells. In the present study, to clarify molecular mechanisms underlying the formation of stem cell niche, we histocytochemically identified precursors of the stem cells using transgenic frogs and developed a culture system for them. In addition, we performed in vitro analyses of TH response genes and found that both canonical Wnt and Notch signaling pathways are activated in the stem cells from their appearance and promote their proliferation. Furthermore, we have shown that hyaluronan newly synthesized by TH activates the Wnt pathway via CD44, suggesting the important role of hyaluronan in the formation of stem cell niche.

Free Research Field

発生生物学