2009 Fiscal Year Final Research Report
Role of β-catenin in the liver and liver cancer
| Project/Area Number |
20790315
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Field |
Experimental pathology
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| Research Institution | National Cancer Center Research Institute and Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East |
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Principal Investigator |
SEKINE Shigeki National Cancer Center Research Institute and Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, 研究所病理部, 室長 (10321879)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2008 – 2009
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| Keywords | β-catenin / 肝 / 肝がん |
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| Research Abstract |
To systematically identify β-catenin-regulated genes in the liver, a microarray analysis was performed on hepatocyte-specific β-catenin knockout mice. The expression of the identified β-catenin downstream genes were further examined in human hepatocellular carcinoma samples. The result showed that overexpression of a subset of the β-catenin-regulated genes identified in the mouse models correlated closely with the presence of β-catenin gene mutations in human hepatocellular carcinomas.
Hepatocyte-specific Dicer knockout mice was found to exhibit impaired localization of periportal genes within the liver lobule. This phenotype partially simulates that of β-catenin knockout mice. Analysis of these two mouse models revealed an essential role of Dicer in the regulation of periportal area-specific gene expression by β-catenin.
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