Cancer stem cells and cancer microenvironment in thyroid cancer

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23659478
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Endocrinology
Research Institution	Nagasaki University
Principal Investigator	YASUI Kazuaki 長崎大学, 大学病院, 医員 (30594064)
Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha)	NAGAYAMA Yuji 長崎大学, 医歯薬学総合研究科, 教授 (30274632)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2012
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,380,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥780,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Keywords	甲状腺癌 / 癌幹細胞 / 微小環境 / 上皮間葉移行 / aldehyde dehydrogenase / 癌－間質微小環境相互作用
Research Abstract	Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been thought to play a critical role in invasion and metastasis of cancer and to be associated with cancer stem cell (CSC) properties. The most reliable marker for thyroid CSCs so far identified appears to be aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH). Our results show that EMT seems to be associated with CSC properties in ALDH-negative human thyroid cancer cells.