2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Assessment of the relationship of the radiation sensitizing agents and tumor microenvironments
| Project/Area Number |
15K15454
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
|
| Allocation Type | Multi-year Fund |
|---|
| Research Field |
Radiation science
|
|---|
| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
|
| Keywords | radiation sensitizer / tumor microenvironment |
|---|
| Outline of Final Research Achievements |
Hypoxic and stroma-rich microenvironments, characteristic features of pancreatic cancers, are associated with a poor prognosis. We found that pancreatic cancer cells secreted more Sonic hedgehog protein (SHH) under hypoxia. The SHH protein secreted from pancreatic cancer cells under hypoxic conditions promoted the growth of fibroblasts by stimulating their Sonic hedgehog signaling pathway. These results suggest that the increased SHH is potentially responsible for the formation of stroma-rich microenvironments in pancreatic cancers, therefore providing a rational basis to target it. RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway is overexpressed in a variety of cancer, and targeting this pathway is considered to be one of the most promising anticancer agents. We found that MEK inhibition showed radiosensitizing effect on a pancreatic cancer cell, MIA PACA-2. MEK inhibition could be a target of radiosensitizing anticancer agents.
|
| Free Research Field |
Radiation Oncology
|
