Role of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in maintenance and repair of vocal cord

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K11230
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Otorhinolaryngology
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kitamura Morimasa 京都大学, 医学研究科, 助教 (60543262)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 大森 孝一 京都大学, 医学研究科, 教授 (10233272) ; 平野 滋 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (10303827) ; 楯谷 一郎 京都大学, 医学研究科, 講師 (20526363) ; 岸本 曜 京都大学, 医学研究科, 特定病院助教 (80700517)
• Research Collaborator: Kabashima Kenji
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 上皮間葉移行 / 声帯 / トランスジェニックマウス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Experiments were performed using transgenic mice in which the K5 Cre strain and the CAG-td Tomato strain were crossed. As a result, the presence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition cells was satisfied in all of 1) existence in the lamina propria of vocal cord, 2) positive Tomato, 3) negative E-cadherin, and 4) positive Vimentin.
The vocal cord injury of the transgenic mice was performed, and the larynx was extracted after 1, 3, 5 and 14 days. The cells of the lamina propria lamina were evaluated by immunostaining. As a result, there were no epithelial-mesenchymal transition cells in the intact vocal cords and vocal cords 1, 3 and 5 days after injury, but epithelial mesenchymal transition cells were recognized at a ratio of 1 cell in 5-6 sections after 14 days of injury.

Free Research Field

耳鼻咽喉科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

上皮間葉転換後も上皮由来の細胞が追跡できるトランスジェニックマウスを用いた声帯の研究は世界においても他に類を見ない研究であり、本実験で上皮由来細胞が声帯粘膜固有層に移行し間葉細胞へ分化していることが確認された。これは上皮由来幹細胞が多分化能を示す証拠となる。声帯創傷治癒において重視されるべき治療ターゲットが明らかになり、声帯瘢痕に対する治療戦略の確立に寄与することが期待される。