Development of pancreatic fibrosis tissues for pancreatic cancers

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20163
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 90110:Biomedical engineering-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Shinohara Marie 東京大学, 生産技術研究所, 助教 (00789133)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 膵臓 / 線維化 / 膵がん / 膵星細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we attempted to evaluate the activation of pancreatic stellate cells, which play a central role in pancreatic fibrosis, by co-culturing them with pancreatic stellate cells and pancreatic cancer cells in a different oxygen atmosphere. Proliferation of pancreatic stellate cells was confirmed by hypoxic culture. In the planar culture system, basal elongation of stellate cells and proliferation of cancer cells were observed in mesenchymal cancer cells, while in epithelial cancer cells, a decrease in stellate cells was observed along with proliferation of cancer cells. In other words, the combination of different cell types is expected to enable the formation and behavior analysis of various fibrosis models.

Free Research Field

生体医工学関連

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

膵線維化培養モデルの構築は，糖尿病や膵硬変，膵臓がんなど様々な膵臓疾患に対する基礎研究のツールとして期待される。既往の研究では，膵星細胞のみに関して培養酸素濃度の影響を評価するものが多かった。本研究の検討により，重層化共培養組織，三次元凝集体での検討が可能であることが示された。また，細胞の組み合わせにより異なる膵星細胞の挙動が見られたことにより，多様な線維化モデル構築が可能となることが期待される。