Identification of functional potassium channels in colon cancer stem cells

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15436
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Gastroenterology
• Research Institution: National Cancer Center Japan
• Principal Investigator: Ohata Hirokazu 国立研究開発法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 研究員 (40570057)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: がん幹細胞 / カリウムチャネル

Outline of Final Research Achievements

It has been proposed that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are responsible for tumor development and recurrence via the self-renewal and differentiation capacity. Elucidating the essential pathways for the maintenance and proliferation of CSCs is crucial to devise an innovative anti-cancer therapy. Here, we investigated CSC spheroids derived from surgical specimen of colon cancer to identify CSC-specific potassium channels. Among the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved potassium channel blockers as therapeutic agents against arrhythmia but not cancer, several drugs markedly inhibited the proliferation of colon CSC spheroids. Therefore, these potassium channel blockers can expand its application range and might easily be used as anti-cancer drugs.

Free Research Field

分子腫瘍学