Elucidation of the mechanism of action of the olfactory receptor involved in cancer-specific metabolism

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K07060
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 49030:Experimental pathology-related
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Takei Norio 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 助教 (50523461)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 太田 明伸 愛知医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (30438048) ; 桜井 敬之 信州大学, 学術研究院医学系, 准教授 (80317825)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: GPCR / ワールブルグ効果 / 癌 / 糖代謝 / CRISPR/Cas9

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In glucose metabolism, cancer cells are known to have a predominant energy metabolism by glycolysis, even in an aerobic environment, as compared to normal cells. This property has been suggested to be associated with malignant tumors of cancer in various stress environments within the tumor.
In this study, we focused on the characteristic metabolic pathways of cancer that differ from these normal cells and conducted a study about the role of a orphan receptor, which is thought to be involved in its metabolism, and the verification of therapeutic effect of its inhibition. This result suggested that this molecule may be involved in the regulation of major metabolic enzymes in cancer-specific energy metabolic pathways, and expected to be a novel target molecule in cancer treatment.

Free Research Field

実験病理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

申請者は、癌の特殊なエネルギー代謝として知られ、癌の悪性化に影響を及ぼす可能性が示されているワールブルグ効果に着目し、その機構への関連が示唆される分子の機能を解明し治療への応用が可能かの基礎的知見を示した。
癌細胞は正常の細胞とは異なり、高い増殖能と分化・転移能を有しており、生物学的に癌細胞においてそのような悪性化に影響をおよぼす因子は治療標的・診断マーカーとなる可能性があることから、それらに関与する新規の因子を同定し、その役割を明らかにすることは、新しい治療法や診断法の開発に有用である。