Development of soft materials in telomere DNA length sensing for cancer diagnosis

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K05236
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 35020:Polymer materials-related
• Research Institution: Shimane University
• Principal Investigator: Yamaguchi Isao 島根大学, 学術研究院環境システム科学系, 教授 (00272708)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: テロメアDNA / センサー / 発光性有機物質 / シトシン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this work, we developed a sensing method for telomere DNA chain length measurements based on newly synthesized water-soluble cationic and anionic oligofluorenes (OFs) bearing N1-alkylcytosine side chains. The sensing performance of the OFs surpasses that of previously reported sensors, they are capable of detecting (TTAGGG)m (m = 2, 3, 4 and 6) chain lengths consisting of several bases, within several minutes. The chain lengths are determined by monitoring luminescence changes in the OFs, which will be discussed in this manuscript. Moreover, the present sensing method requires pico-mol scale of DNA amounts to detect the chain lengths; hence, it does not necessitate PCR amplification. We believe that the present sensing method will be of interest to your journal readers as it is expected to be applicable for sensing DNA chain lengths of various proteins and viruses in addition to that of the single-stranded overhang of telomere DNA, while avoiding PCR amplification.

Free Research Field

高分子化学、有機機能材料

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

多くのがん細胞では、テロメラーゼと呼ばれる酵素が活性化されており、テロメアDNAの短縮にともなう細胞分裂の停止が起きない。したがって、テロメラーゼ活性（テロメア鎖長）を測定することで、がんに関する診断ができる。既存のテロメア鎖長計測法では、計測に長時間を要すること、計測精度があまりよくないこと、検体（テロメアDNA）の増幅が必要となる場合があることなどの改善点が指摘されている。
本研究では、計測精度が6と高精度かつPCRが不要で、蛍光測定時間内(数分)でテロメアDNA鎖長の計測が可能なセンサー用材料を開発することができた。