Identification of microbiota and next generation immune therapy in gastrointestinal cancer

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K07646
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 50010:Tumor biology-related
• Research Institution: Sapporo Medical University
• Principal Investigator: NOSHO KATSUHIKO 札幌医科大学, 医学部, 訪問研究員 (10597339)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 大腸癌 / F. nucleatum / microbiota / 免疫療法

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The association between highly enriched F. nucleatum in colorectal carcinoma
tissues, and MSI-high status was observed in both the U.S. cohort studies and Japanese population-based study. Previous studies have reported that the frequency of colorectal cancers with MSI-high status in Japan (less than 10%） tend to be lower than those in U.S. and Western countries (about 15%). Therefore, the low rate of MSI-high in Japanese colorectal cancer might be due to the amount of F. nucleatum in carcinoma tissues, because our current data showed that the rate of F. nucleatum positivity in Japanese patients was lower than that in the U.S. cohorts.

Free Research Field

消化器癌

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は従来までF. nucleatum研究で用いられていない小さな大腸腫瘍とその周囲の正常粘膜の臨床検体をサンプルとする新たな試みである。その成果によりF. nucleatumが正常のヒト大腸粘膜や小さなポリープ内で腫瘍発生・増殖を促していることが示された場合、癌予防におけるF. nucleatumの重要性は高まると考えられる。また米国のコホート研究で食物繊維が豊富な食事がF. nucleatum陽性大腸癌のリスクを低下させるとの報告がなされたことで、F. nucleatumを標的とした大腸癌予防の現実味は増しており、本研究の動物実験の成果はヒトへの介入研究の礎の一つとなることが期待される。