Establishment of cell lines from rare thoracic malignancies and its genetic alterations

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K10808
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Respiratory surgery
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Fukui Takayuki 名古屋大学, 医学部附属病院呼吸器外科, 講師 (70463198)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 羽切 周平 名古屋大学, 医学部附属病院, 病院助教 (40647476) ; 川口 晃司 名古屋大学, 医学部附属病院, 病院准教授 (10402611) ; 横井 香平 名古屋大学, 医学系研究科, 教授 (60378007)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 胸腺腫 / 胸腺癌 / 細胞株

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Among the rare thoracic malignancies, we established cell lines from thymoma since 2017, and succeeded in culturing them for more than 10 passages in 2 cases. Furthermore, in thymic epithelial tumors, PD-L1 staining was performed using paraffin blocks of surgical specimens. As a result, it was revealed that PD-L1 positivity (staining 1% or more) was significantly higher in B2 and B3 thymoma, advanced stage thymoma of Masaoka stage 3 or 4. In addition, FDG accumulation (maxSUV value) and PD-L1 expression in FDG-PET scan were significantly correlated. The results could be presented at academic conferences in Japan and overseas. Furthermore, we performed additional PD-Ll staining using 240 cases of resected thymic epithelial tumor, but the evaluation could not be completed due to changes in the evaluator.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

胸部に発生するまれな腫瘍のうち、胸腺腫では研究に利用可能な細胞株が国内外でほとんど存在しないため、未熟ながらも初代培養に成功した意義はあると思われる。また、胸腺上皮性腫瘍と腫瘍内のPD-L1タンパク発現の頻度や臨床病理学的因子との関係を明らかにできたことで、現在は有効な薬物治療が他癌腫に比べて限られている進行胸腺腫や胸腺癌患者に対する各種免疫チェックポイント阻害薬の臨床効果が期待できる。