GDPP is a novel tumor-agnostic blood biomarker for the diagnosis and monitoring the bone metastasis

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K09396
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 56030:Urology-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Yamamichi Gaku 大阪大学, 医学部附属病院, 医員 (40882262)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 田中 啓之 大阪大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 特任教授(常勤) (00432542) ; 植村 元秀 福島県立医科大学, 医学部, 特任教授 (40631015) ; 王谷 英達 大阪大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 講師 (60727965) ; 武田 理宏 大阪大学, 医学部附属病院, 准教授 (70506493)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 骨転移 / バイオマーカー / 癌種横断的

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In our previous research, we identified the GDF15 (growth differentiation factor 15) propeptide, which is secreted from both osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and secured intellectual property rights (Method and detection reagent for detecting bone metastasis of cancer: Patent Application No. 2019-211488). In this study, we investigated whether measuring blood levels of GDPP is useful for diagnosing and monitoring bone metastasis in prostate cancer, breast cancer, kidney cancer, and lung cancer, all of which exhibit a high propensity for bone metastasis across various cancer types, through a multi-center study. As a result, in the three cancer types other than lung cancer, which showed significantly fewer bone metastases, blood GDPP levels demonstrated greater accuracy in diagnosing bone metastasis and exhibited a stronger correlation with the extent of bone metastasis compared to existing tumor markers and bone turnover markers.

Free Research Field

泌尿器科

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

血中GDPP値は既存の腫瘍マーカーや骨代謝マーカーと比べて、癌種横断的に骨転移診断に有用であった。また前立腺癌においてGDPPは従来の血液バイオマーカーよりも、骨転移量とその変化量に対して強く相関していた。以上の結果から、血中GDPP測定は癌種を問わず骨転移診断や治療モニタリングに有用であり、CTや骨シンチグラフィの代替検査となり被爆や医療費の削減につながる社会的意義があると考えられる。