Common molecular mechanisms regulating murine breast cancer stem cells and leukemia stem cells

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670135
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General medical chemistry
• Research Institution: Hiroshima University (2015); Kanazawa University (2014)
• Principal Investigator: NAKA Kazuhito 広島大学, 原爆放射線医科学研究所, 准教授 (70372688)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: がん幹細胞 / 乳がん幹細胞 / CML幹細胞 / 代謝産物 / メタボローム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Although it is now widely accepted that cancer stem cells are the cell-of-origin of the vast majority of mature cancer cells and are reportedly responsible for the recurrence of disease following anti-cancer therapy, the molecular mechanisms regulating cancer stem cells in epithelial tumors has remained elusive. The biological characteristics of mature cancer cells appear to be distinct among breast cancer cells originate from endoderm and leukemia cells originate from mesoderm. However, I hypothesized that common molecular mechanisms such as stem cell quiescence and/or therapeutic resistance might sustain the long-term survival of breast cancer stem cells and chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) stem cells. In this study, I used sophisticated metabolomics techniques to investigate the distinct and common molecular mechanisms maintaining self-renewal capacity of murine breast cancer stem cells and murine CML stem cells in vivo.

Free Research Field

幹細胞生物学