A reserch of innovative therapies for hormone treatment-resistance Breast Cancer by targeting apoptosis-related molecules

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K17559
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 55010:General surgery and pediatric surgery-related
• Research Institution: Nagoya City University
• Principal Investigator: Kato Akiko 名古屋市立大学, 医薬学総合研究院(医学), 助教 (70847459)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 乳癌 / BAG2

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated the association between BAG2 gene expression and prognosis of breast cancer patients in our hospital. Preliminary experiments showed that patients with high BAG2 gene expression had a poor prognosis and BAG2 gene expression was an independent poor prognostic factor in breast cancer. Furthermore, high BAG2 gene expression also showed a poor prognosis in ER-positive breast cancer patients who were treated with hormone therapy.
Based on these results, we investigated this research with the increased number of patients and the prolonged observation period. However, no significant association was found between BAG2 gene expression and prognosis, and the same was shown for ER-positive patients. In addition, BAG2 gene expression did not show correlation with cathepsin B gene expression and caspase 3 gene expression.

Free Research Field

Breast cancer

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

乳がん組織における BAG2 遺伝子発現レベルと予後および臨床病理学的因子との関連性について検討した。BAG2 遺伝子発現と腫瘍の悪性度においては関連を認めたものの、BAG2 発現が予後を予測することは示されなかった。さらに、カテプシンB およびカスパーゼ3 遺伝子発現と BAG2 遺伝子発現との相関関係について検討したが、いずれも仮説に反する結果であった。以上の結果から、BAG2 遺伝子発現を標的する治療法を開発するという目的を達することはできなかった。