Elucidation of carcinogenesis and application to therapeutics for de novo colon cancer focusing on dysbiosis and molecular abnormalities

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K16447
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 55010:General surgery and pediatric surgery-related
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: TAMURA Koji 九州大学, 大学病院, 助教 (90909582)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 大腸癌 / de novo癌 / 腸内細菌叢 / 家族性大腸線種症 / 炎症性腸疾患

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Because of the difficulty in clinically confirming the diagnosis of de novo cancer and the slow accumulation of clinical samples, the initial plan was redirected as scheduled towards elucidating the carcinogenesis pathways in patients with FAP and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-derived colorectal cancer. Samples from de novo cancer, FAP, and IBD-derived cancer, for which microbiome analysis has already been submitted, are currently being analyzed, including clinical factors. For single-cell RNA analysis, analysis of the cancer microenvironment and immune cells in the carcinogenesis process in FAP patients was conducted and presented at conferences, with related papers reported in 2024 (Cancer Lett 2024). Currently, microbiome analysis using patient feces and tissue samples is also underway. Further investigation into de novo cancer is ongoing using separate research funds.

Free Research Field

医歯薬学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

de novo癌、FAP、colitic cancerを含む大腸癌の発癌メカニズムを腸内細菌叢及び腫瘍微小環境の不均一性という側面から検討することは、大腸癌治療開発において刷新的であり社会的な要請の強い大腸癌の治療開発に飛躍的な進歩をもたらすと期待される。また、本成果は、scRNAseq解析やmicrobiome解析などマスデータを含むもので、そのインパクトは大きく、癌研究だけでなく、生物学や細菌学など学術的にも広範な波及効果が期待される。