Development of a universal tumor marker to diagnose the whole solid cancers

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19893
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Health science and related fields
• Research Institution: Gunma University
• Principal Investigator: Kuwano Hiroyuki 群馬大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 教授 (90186560)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 茂木 晃 群馬大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 准教授 (10323362) ; 藤井 孝明 群馬大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 准教授 (40507331) ; 横堀 武彦 群馬大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 寄附講座等教員 (60420098) ; 宮崎 達也 群馬大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (70372349) ; 原 圭吾 群馬大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (60826270)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: PLS3 / T-plastin / 腫瘍マーカー / 血清マーカー / 固形がん

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Several tumor markers are used to evaluate the tumor progression and efficacy of anti-cancer drugs in several solid tumors. The purpose of this study was to establish the Universal Tumor Marker to diagnose the whole solid cancers. Therefore, we focused on the T-plastin (PLS3) which has been reported do to be expressed in whole solid tissues and cancers but not in hematopoietic cells and blood. In this study, we clarified that the expression of PLS3 in serum samples from cancer patients was evaluable using the ELISA method which is commonly used in the clinic now. The expression levels in serum of cancer patients was higher than that of healthy volunteers; suggesting the consistency of our PLS3 hypothesis as a candidate of Universal Tumor Marker. The evaluation of PLS3 in serum samples is expected to be a useful cancer screening tool in the clinic.

Free Research Field

分子腫瘍学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的な意義として、これまでPCRで検出されていた血液中PLS3発現が実臨床で頻用されているELISA法で検出可能であることを明らかにした点が挙げられる。さらにPLS3発現は健常者と比較して癌患者で有意に発現亢進しており、この知見は本研究の仮説と一致していた。社会実装の視点ではPLS3は既存の腫瘍マーカーを凌駕する新規Universal Tumor Markerの候補として期待される。