2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

TGF-β inhibition restores terminal osteoblast differentiation to suppress myeloma growth

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21790918
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Hematology
Research Institution	The University of Tokushima
Principal Investigator	TAKEUCHI Kyoko The University of Tokushima, 病院, 助教 (60511334)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2010
Keywords	TGF-β / 多発性骨髄腫
Research Abstract	Multiple myeloma develops and expands almost exclusively in the bone marrow, and generates devastating bone destruction. In bone lesions in myeloma, TGF-β is released from the bone and activated, which suppresses terminalosteoblast differentiation. Inhibition of TGF-β actions by TGF-β receptor type I kinase inhibitor enhances osteoblastic differentiation to mature osteoblasts. Furthermore, mature osteoblasts inhibit, while immature stromal cells enhance, myeloma cell growth and survival. Thus, inhibition of TGF-β signal may become a new therapeutic target against myeloma cell growth and destructive bone lesions.