The fate of a single sister chromatid fusion during epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21545
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 50:Oncology and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Hayashi Makoto 京都大学, 医学研究科, 客員准教授 (90761099)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 上皮間葉転換 / 染色体融合 / がん

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research project, we asked why human epithelial cells are more prone to cancer than other cell types. To address this question, we utilized our originally developed chromosome fusion visualization (FuVis) system. We found that the cell fate induced by a single sister chromatid fusion differs between epithelial cells and mesenchymal cells with the same genetic background, and that cell death is induced more frequently in mesenchymal cells. This may be one of the molecular mechanisms underlying the susceptibility of epithelial cells to cancer.

Free Research Field

分子細胞生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は，細胞のがん化過程の理解，特にがん細胞の由来となる細胞種に，生物種によって偏りがあるメカニズムの理解を目指した基礎研究である．細胞のがん化には，遺伝情報を司る染色体の融合が関与するため，染色体融合に対する応答が，各種の細胞間で異なっているのではないかとの仮説を立て，この検証を目指した．本研究成果を端緒として，細胞がん化の理解が進むことにより，がんの予防や早期発見，新たな治療法の確立などに繋がる可能性がある．