2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Liver regeneration is dependent on sugar chain

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23651196
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Medical genome science
Research Institution	Tohoku Pharmaceutical University
Principal Investigator	GU Jianguo 東北薬科大学, 薬学部, 教授 (40260369)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	FUKUDA Tomohiko 東北薬科大学, 薬学部, 准教授 (40433510)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	α1,6フコース / Fut8 / liver regeneration
Research Abstract	The expression of alpha1,6-fucosyltransferase (Fut8) and its products (alpha1,6-fucosylated N-glycans) are known to be elevated in both liver and serum during the process of hepatocarcinogenesis (HCC). However, the regulatory mechanism of high Fut8 expression in HCC progression remains poorly understood. In fact, cell proliferation plays a crucial role in the process of liver regeneration. Therefore, to examine effects of Fut8 on cell growth in vivo, we performed a partial hepatectomy on wild type and Fut8 knockout mice to induce liver regeneration. Interestingly, the speed of liver regeneration in Fut8 knockout mice was significantly slower than that in wild-type mice. Interestingly, an oral administration of L-fucose significantly accelerated liver regeneration of the Fut8-hetero mice, but did not affect the sham mice. These results further suggest that Fut8 and its products are important for cell proliferation in liver regeneration.