The detection model for the epithelial-mesenchymal interaction

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19765
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Oral Science and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshizaki Keigo 九州大学, 歯学研究院, 助教 (10507982)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 歯 / 器官形成 / 上皮－間葉相互作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Epithelial-mesenchymal interaction plays critical roles for the development of organs such as tooth, lung, salivary gland, kidney and hair. We explored specific transcriptional start sites (TSS) of each organ by CAGE (Cap Analysis of Gene Expression) analysis. We identified a tooth specific TSS, which has been detected on chromosome 15qD1 region. This TSS potentially codes microRNA 875 (miR875). miR875-5p was specifically expressed mesenchyme of tooth germ. To assess the role of miR875-5p in dental mesenchyme during tooth development, we transfected mimic miR875-5p into mouse dental pulpal (mDP) cells. mDP cells transfected with mimic miR875-5p migrated toward to epithelia of E13 tooth germ in the co-culture system, indicating that miR875 may play a role for epithelial-mesenchymal interaction.

Free Research Field

歯科矯正学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

iPS細胞の発見により、様々な組織の再生技術が確立されつつあるが、上皮－間葉相互作用により形成される器官を始めとした、複数の細胞種によって形成される器官の再生は未だ困難である。本研究では、歯をモデルとして、上皮－間葉相互作用に重要と思われる遺伝子群をスクリーニングし、器官発生初期における役割を同定することで、上皮－間葉相互作用におけるメカニズムの解明の進展が期待される。