Construction of a new prognostic factor ephrin-A2 for glioblastoma

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K17924
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 56010:Neurosurgery-related
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Hirai Nozomi 金沢大学, 医学系, 協力研究員 (10866445)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: ephrin / glioblastoma / 膠芽腫 / バイオマーカー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We focused on ephrin-A2, a ligand for EphA that is involved in malignant phenotypes of cancer cells. We investigated the relationship between ephrin-A2 expression and prognosis in gliomas, and its function in glioma cells and glioma stem cells in vitro and in vivo.
Clinical analysis and in vivo experiments showed that ephrin-A2 was a favorable prognostic factor, with a significantly longer OS in the high-ephrin-A2 expression group. On the other hand, in vitro experiments showed that ephrin-A2 is an invasion-promoting molecule. However, these results were seemingly at odds with in vivo experiments. These results suggest that ephrin-A2 may function differently in vivo in relation to the extracellular microenvironment.

Free Research Field

脳腫瘍

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では膠芽腫臨床検体を用いた臨床解析及びephrin-A2ノックダウン幹細胞を脳内移植したマウスを用いたin vivo実験ではephrin-A2高発現群において全生存期間の延長を認め、ephrin-A2は予後良好因子である可能性が考えられた。これらの結果は今後、膠芽腫の予後予測に利用可能な新規バイオマーカーの確立につながる可能性がある。
また、現在までにephrin-A2の詳細なメカニズムは他のどの悪性腫瘍でも詳細に検討はされていない。本研究により得られたephrin-A2の分子機構の解明は他の癌腫におけるephrin-A2シグナルの解明へつながる横断的研究へと発展すると考えられる。