Cellular plasticity of OCT4 expressing somatic cells

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K15016
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General anatomy (including histology/embryology)
• Research Institution: Okayama University
• Principal Investigator: KOSAKA MITSUKO 岡山大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 助教 (50270476)
• Research Collaborator: MIZUNO NOBUHIKO 岡山大学, 医学部, 客員研究員 (60462735)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 幹細胞 / 体性組織 / 多分化能 / がん

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Oct4A, a POU-family transcription factor, is an indispensable and the preeminent pluripotency factor. However, whether Oct4 function in somatic tissues remains debated. Here we tried some useful systems to correctly understand somatic OCT4 gene function. Our findings open up the possibility again that OCT4 can be normal tissue stem cells and/or tumor initiating cells marker and could play a pivotal role in somatic tissues. In this study, we identified and characterized OCT4 transcripts and their translation products in human carcinoma cell lines.

Free Research Field

幹細胞生物学