Anticancer effects based on core fucose

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K14408
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Tumor therapeutics
• Research Institution: Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University
• Principal Investigator: GU Jianguo 東北医科薬科大学, 薬学部, 教授 (40260369)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): FUKUDA Tomohiko 東北医科薬科大学, 薬学部, 准教授 (40433510)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: コアフコース / N型糖鎖 / がん / 細胞膜受容体 / 細胞内シグナル / 細胞増殖

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The expression of core fucose catalyzed α1,6-fucosyltransferase (Fut8) has been known to be elevated in both liver and serum during the process of hepatocarcinogenesis (HCC) or in other cancers. However, functions of the increased core fucose in cancers remain poorly understood. In the present study, we used a well-established HCC model to investigate the functions of Fut8 in HCC, found that tumor incidence was greatly inhibited in Fut8-KO mice compared to wild-type mice, and the responses to growth factors such as EGF and HGF were decreased in Fut8 deficient cells compared to wild-type cells. Furthermore, Inhibition of core fucose by a small compound suppressed cancer cell proliferation and integrin-mediated cell migration, as well as colony formation and tumor xenograft efficacy. These results clearly described the importance of core fucose in cancer progression, suggesting the small compound might be a novel candidate for cancer therapy.

Free Research Field

生化学