Exploration for personalized adjuvant therapy to lung cancer patients using liquid biopsy

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 22K20788
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0901:Oncology and related fields
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Koba Hayato 金沢大学, 医薬保健学総合研究科, 特任助教 (80967886)
• Project Period (FY): 2022-08-31 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: Exracellular vesicles / 肺癌 / Liquid biopsy

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We analyzed cell free DNA (cfDNA) and extracellular vesicles (EVs) extracted from blood specimens collected before lung cancer surgery, examined their relationship with subsequent prognosis, and developed new biomarkers for predicting prognosis. The aim is to establish personalized postoperative treatments by creating and discovering therapeutic targets. cfDNA and EVs were extracted from blood samples of 285 patients before lung cancer surgery.
Among patients with EGFR mutation, it was found that the group in which the same gene mutation was detected in cfDNA had a significantly worse prognosis.
Furthermore, when examining the proteins in EVs, the group in which ZNFx was detected had a significantly better prognosis than the group in which ZNFx was not detected.

Free Research Field

Liquid biopsy

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

血中には癌由来の遺伝子変異やタンパク質が循環していることは以前から報告されていた。今回我々の検討では、肺癌の手術前に特定の遺伝子異常やタンパク質が認められる患者群で、生命予後が別れることが示された。肺癌の周術期の治療開発が盛んに行われているが、現時点では病期Stageによって治療を行うべきかどうかを決めている。我々が見出したこれらの因子によって、周術期の治療の判断材料になることが期待される。