Mieap, a p53-inducible protein, controls mitochondrial quality by repairing or eliminating unhealthy mitochondria

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24240117
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Carcinogenesis
• Research Institution: National Cancer Center Japan
• Principal Investigator: ARAKAWA Hirofumi 独立行政法人国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 分野長 (70313088)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NAKAMURA Yasuyuki 国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 主任研究員 (90569063) ; KAMINO Hiroki 国立がん研究センター, 研究所, 研究員 (00625692) ; YOSHIDA Masaki 国立がん研究センター, 研究所, リサーチレジデント (20625686)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: p53 / ゲノム不安定性 / ミトコンドリア / タンパク質分解 / 酸化ストレス / リソソーム / ミトコンドリア品質管理 / がん浸潤転移

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The Mieap-regulated mitochondrial quality control is a universal, fundamental, and physiological function in the cell, which is completely different from canonical autophagy, and is conserved at least from mouse to human. The function is activated by hypoxic stress. The function is frequently inactivated in cancer tissues of human cancer patients including colorectal and gastric cancers, leading to the accumulation of unhealthy mitochondria in cancer cells. The reactive oxygen species generated by the unhealthy mitochondria play a critical role in cancer initiation, progression, invasion and metastasis. Therefore, the Mieap-regulated mitochondrial quality control is a new function of tumor suppressor p53.

Free Research Field

腫瘍生物学