Role of vasohibin-2 in cancer progression

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25290040
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Tumor biology
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Yasufumi 東北大学, 加齢医学研究所, 教授 (50178779)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: vasohibin-2 / 上皮間葉転換 / 血管新生 / がん随伴線維芽細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We made VASH2 knockdown human ovarian cancer cells and compared their properties with those of parental cells. VASH2 knockdown cells showed cobblestone-like appearance with increased expression of E-cadherin. Moreover, the expression of ZEB2, SNAI2 and TWIST1 and the in vitro invasion activity were significantly decreased in VASH2 knockdown cells. Gan mouse is a model of spontaneous gastric cancer. We made Gan/Vash2(-/-) mice and compare their phenotype. The size of gastric cancer, the number of Ki-67 positive cancer cells, tumor angiogenesis, and the number of cancer-associated fibroblasts were significantly decreased in Gan/Vash2(-/-) mice. These results indicate that VASH2 promotes cancer progression via the pleiotropic effects on epithelial to mesenchymal transition of cancer cells, tumor angiogenesis and the activation of fibroblast. We made the His-VASH2 column, applied mouse brain extract and isolated several VASH2 binding membrane proteins as candidates of VASH receptor.

Free Research Field

実験病理