Elucidation of the functional role of LOX in hepatocellular carcinoma with the aim of developing innovative therapies

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K16721
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 50010:Tumor biology-related
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: UMEZAKI Naoki 熊本大学, 病院, 非常勤診療医師 (00836249)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: Lysyl oxidase / EMT / Hepatocellular carcinoma / Intrahepatic metastasis / Early recurrence / HIF-1

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Two major types of recurrence in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are known: multicentric (MC) carcinogenesis and intrahepatic metastasis (IM). There is an urgent need to take measures against recurrence of intrahepatic metastasis, which mainly contributes to early recurrence of HCC.
We focused on the gene names Lysyl oxidase (LOX), as an oncogene which is strongly associated with early recurrence of HCC. We used the exhaustive gene expression database and analyzed the association between the LOX expression and molecular pathways, we revealed that the LOX expression is strongly associated with Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), suggesting that the LOX regulate early recurrence of HCC.

Free Research Field

肝胆膵領域における手術を中心とした集学的治療

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

今回の研究においてLOX遺伝子がEMTを介して肝細胞癌の早期再発に関連していることが明らかとなった。
これにより肝細胞癌で根治切除を施行した患者の中でも再発リスクの高い患者を同定することが可能であり、
LOX遺伝子が今後の治療標的の遺伝子の一つとして創薬やバイオマーカーなどの発展へ寄与することが期待できる。