Establishment of new diagnostic approach for the primary unknown metastatic bone tumor

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26670286
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Laboratory medicine
• Research Institution: Juntendo University
• Principal Investigator: SAITO Tsuyoshi 順天堂大学, 医学部, 准教授 (80439736)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 原発不明癌 / バイオマーカー / 病理診断

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We are trying to find biomarkers that can help to diagnose the primary unknown metastatic carcinomas. In this process, we identified that PPP2R1A mutations frequently occurred in GIST and that patients with GIST having this mutation showed adverse clinical outcome. We also showed that the type of NAB2-STAT6 fusion, which is specifically observed in solitary fibrous tumor (SFT), affects patients' prognosis. Furthermore, TERT promoter mutation and TP53 mutation were associated with the acquisition of the aggressive behavior, especially in the process of dedifferentiation of this tumor. We have previously shown that lung adenocarcinoma was the most common carcinoma among the primary unknown metastatic bone tumors. We also showed that galectin-4 could be a diagnostic marker for the metastatic lung adenocarcinoma, because the metastatic lung adenocarcinomas tend to lose TTF-1 expression, a marker of lung adenocarcinoma, while keeping the galectin-4 expression at the metastatic sites.

Free Research Field

悪性腫瘍の転移機構の解明