Predictive blood system with use of methylation signatures for outcome of hepatocellular carcinoma

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24592002
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: Yamaguchi University
• Principal Investigator: IIZUKA Norio 山口大学, 医学部附属病院, 准教授 (80332807)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 肝癌 / メチル化 / 血清DNA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to develop a minimally invasive predictive blood test with use of methylation signature specific to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for outcome of HCC.
Out of 20 methylation genes with CpG islands in the promoter and exon 1 regions, we identified 6 genes, such as CFTR, RASF1A, and BASP, linked to metastatic potentials of HCC. We found that 6-genes predictive scoring system had sensitivity and specificity of 56% and 68% in predicting outcome of HCC in the training set. The system worked well (sensitivity and specificity of more than 60%) in the test set. Moreover, we found that number of genes positive for methylation is critical to understanding of metastatic potentials of HCC. We reported the relevant results in the form of 9 papers (2 Anticancer Res., 4 Int J Oncol ., 1J Transl Med, 1 Oncol Rep, and 1 Frontiers in Pahrmacology) and read 3 papers at academic meetings. We obtained a patent linked to methodology for the system.

Free Research Field

消化器外科