Elucidation of the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel disease / intestinal lymphoma based on the concept of disease spectrum

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K15007
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 42020:Veterinary medical science-related
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Ohmi Aki 東京大学, 大学院農学生命科学研究科(農学部), 特任助教 (50800653)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: リンパ腫 / 炎症性腸疾患 / 慢性腸症 / 上皮内リンパ球 / ゲノム異常

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study aimed to elucidate the pathology of canine chronic enteritis and gastrointestinal lymphoma, and sought to discover both similarities and differences between these two diseases. First, in canine gastrointestinal lymphoma, I could detect mutations in a specific group of genes that have been also found to be mutated in human intestinal lymphoma. Furthermore, it was suspected that the JAK/STAT pathway, which is one of the intracellular signals, is particularly disrupted in canine gastrointestinal lymphoma. Therefore, I investigated mutations in genes involved in this pathway and detected the mutations in several cases.
These results show that common genetic mutations are involved in the pathology of intestinal lymphomas in a part of canine and human cases, and they also provides important information for elucidating the pathogenesis of chronic enteritis and gastrointestinal lymphoma in dogs.

Free Research Field

獣医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

犬において慢性的な消化器症状を引き起こす疾患として、炎症性腸疾患と消化管型リンパ腫が知られている。治療法や予後が異なるため両者の鑑別は重要とされているが、臨床症状のみでは鑑別できず、病理組織学的検査でも区別が困難である場合が多い。本研究において消化管型リンパ腫に認められる遺伝子変異を検出することができたため、今後はこの遺伝子変異を診断マーカーとして臨床応用することによって炎症性腸疾患と消化管型リンパ腫の鑑別がより容易になる可能性が示された。またこの遺伝子変異がもたらす生物学的な影響を詳細に解析することで、リンパ腫に対するより特異的な治療法につながる可能性も示された。