A search for candidate genes involved in invasion and metastasis of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23591624
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Dermatology
• Research Institution: University of the Ryukyus
• Principal Investigator: TAKEI Kimiko 琉球大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (90325861)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): UEZATO Hiroshi 琉球大学, 大学院医学研究科, 教授 (10137721) ; INAMINE Morihiko 琉球大学, 大学院医学研究科, 助教 (90437989)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 有棘細胞癌 / 転移 / ケラチン / マイクロRNA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To search for biomarkers to identify patients with a high risk of cSCC, we compared protein and microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles between transformed mouse keratinocytes and its metastatic derivatives. MiR-221/222, keratin 8 (K8)/18 were upregulated in metastatic derivatives.
We then examined whether miR-221/222 and K8/18 could serve as markers to identify high-risk patients. Of the 448 patients diagnosed/treated between 1978 and 2012 at Ryukyu University Hospital, 19 (4.2%) were metastatic, and 11 of which could be enrolled. Thus, we compared miR-221/222 and K8/18 expression between 11 metastatic and 11 non-metastatic patients in a matched-pair case-control study. MiR-221/222-double-positive staining and K8/18-double-positive staining were highly significantly associated with metastasis (each p=0.004, binomial exact test). To our knowledge, this is the first report on the potential utility of miR-221/222 and K8/18 as biomarkers for high-risk cSCCs.

Free Research Field

皮膚腫瘍学