2012 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Analyses of liver-specific miRNA function and the development of the strategy about the efficient induction of differentiation into hepatocytes

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22590718
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Gastroenterology
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	KONDO Yuuji 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (00572231)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	吉田晴彦東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (60240305) 大塚基之東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (90518945)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2012
Keywords	肝臓学 / microRNA / 分化 / 肝細胞
Research Abstract	Liver specific miR122 is frequently downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Knockdown of miR122 induces AFP expression, indicating the de-differentiation of hepatocytes. Decreased miR122 expression leads to the increased expression of CUX1, a transcriptional factor, which is related with the aggressiveness of HCC. From these results, decreased miR122 results in the AFP expression and aggressiveness of HCC, which is a molecular explanation about the clinical poor prognosis of HCCs with high AFP expression.