2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Basic research on new therapy for Merkel cell carcinoma

Research Project

PDF

Project/Area Number	16K10164
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Dermatology
Research Institution	Saga University
Principal Investigator	NARISAWA YUTAKA 佐賀大学, 医学部, 教授 (60164498)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	永瀬浩太郎佐賀大学, 医学部, 講師 (30549077) 井上卓也佐賀大学, 医学部, 准教授 (50380754)
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Keywords	メルケル細胞 / メルケル細胞癌 / 毛包幹細胞 / 毛隆起
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The origin of Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is not yet clear. The purpose of this study was to clarify the origin of MCC and to lead to the development of a new treatment by taking into consideration the characteristics of precursor cells. We have clarified that there are many MCs in human hair follicle bulge. It has been also revealed that hair follicle stem cells are localized in hair follicle bulge. Therefore, we compared the immunophenotypical expressions between normal Merkel cells (MCs) and MCC using several hair follicle stem cell markers. As MCs and MCC showed similar expression, we hypothesized that MCC is generated by malignant transformation from hair follicle stem cells localized in hair follicle bulge.
Free Research Field	皮膚科学
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	近年増加傾向にあり、予後不良とされるメルケル細胞癌（MCC）の治療成績の改善は免疫チェックポイント阻害剤の導入が大きく寄与している。しかしながら治療抵抗例も未だ多く、分子標的薬の併用等も検討されている。MCCの細胞起源を明らかにすることにより、細胞生物学的特性がより明らかになり、新規に治療標的の分子の同定につながる。今回の研究によりMCCの毛隆起部に存在する毛包幹細胞由来説を提唱した。毛包幹細胞の特性に関する研究は多く、その知見を導入した研究が今後期待される。