Tumor-suppressive effects and mechanism of a novel PPAR gamma agonist in esophageal caner

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25462028
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: Kumamoto University
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIDA Naoya 熊本大学, 大学院生命科学研究部(医), 講師 (60467983)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): BABA Yoshifumi 熊本大学, 大学院生命科学研究部, 講師 (20599708) ; IMAMURA Yu 熊本大学, 大学院生命科学研究部, 講師 (70583045) ; WATANABE Masayuki 公益財団法人がん研究会, 有明病院 消化器外科, 食道担当部長 (80254639)
• Research Collaborator: SAWAYAMA Hiroshi 熊本大学, 医学部附属病院, 非常勤診療医師 (40594875)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: PPARγ / 新規PPARγ agonist / 食道扁平上皮癌 / cetuximab / p21 / Akt / EGFR

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The novel third-generation thiazolidinedione peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma(PPARγ) agonist,previously demonstrated an anti-tumor effect in patients with advanced cancers.PPARγ expression was found to decrease in the tumors of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC) patients,and its expression exhibited an inverse relationship with the expression of Ki-67.The novel PPARγ agonist can inhibit the proliferation ESCC cell lines both in vitro and in vivo.The PPARγ agonist was revealed to upregulate the p21 protein level in the nucleus by inactivating the AKT pathway and dephosphorylating p21 at Thr145.Treatment with the PPARγ agonist led to phosphorylate the EGFR and the MAPK pathway.The combination of the PPARγ agonist with cetuximab exerted synergetic anti-proliferative effects by negatively regulating EGFR.Our findings suggest that the novel PPARγ agonist can be used both alone and in combination with cetuximab as a potential therapeutic approach for ESCC.

Free Research Field

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