Reconstruction of pancreatic cancer microenvironment

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26462059
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: Kobe University
• Principal Investigator: SHIMIZU KAZUYA 神戸大学, 保健学研究科, 保健学研究員 (50335353)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 膵臓がん / がん幹細胞 / 胚性幹細胞

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Pancreatic cancer shows an aggressive phenotype with a dismal prognosis despite of multimodal therapy. Notably, neural invasion is a life-threatening problem. In this study, we aimed to reconstruct microenvironment around pancreatic cancer cells. First, we developed novel mouse pancreatic cancer stem cells by introducing mutated KRAS, mutated p53, and CDK4 oncogenes common in human pancreatic cancer to mouse pancreatic stem/progenitor cells. Then, we established co-culture system between multipotent stem cells and pancreatic cancer cells. We found that both mouse embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells could differentiate into neural cells such as neuron or glia cells in vitro and in vivo. These results indicate that this system might be potent tool to develop novel treatment strategy for pancreatic cancer.

Free Research Field

膵臓外科学