Establishment of novel assay methods for translocation type gene alterations.

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25670183
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Human pathology
• Research Institution: Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: YATABE Yasushi 愛知県がんセンター(研究所), 分子腫瘍学部, 研究員 (90280809)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 遺伝子転座 / 検出法 / がん組織

Outline of Final Research Achievements

EML4 is transcriptionally active, but not ALK in the normal lung, and EML4-ALK translocation in lung cancer leads to activate the transcription of ALK kinase by the EML4 promoter. Therefore, ALK transcription has different patterns between 5’ and 3’ ends when the tumor has the translocation, and the difference can be utilized for a screening tool for the translocation. We examined 15 and 40 of ALK rearranged and wild type tumors, respectively, and found this method could work well with quantitative RT-PCR. Similarly, we applied this method to ROS and RET translocations, but the gene was expressed in the normal lung tissues. So, we defined the appropriate cut-off values, and also found the method could be used as a screening. Furthermore, we established immunohistochemistry to detect ROS1-rearranged tumors, and reported the results (Clin Lung Cancer 2015).

Free Research Field

分子病理学