Development of peptides inhibiting tumor angiogenesis and metastasis to develop novel anti-cancer drug

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H02503
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: General pharmacology
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Kanaho Yasunori 筑波大学, 医学医療系, 教授 (00214437)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): FUJII Ikuo 大阪府立大学, 理学系研究科, 教授 (70189984) ; KITA Masaki 筑波大学, 数理物質系, 准教授 (30335012)
• Research Collaborator: FUNAKOSHI Yuji ; YAMAUCHI Yohei ; MIURA Yuki ; MIYACHI Taito ; Lin Yueh-Chen ; Van Ngo Thai Bich ; Tsai Meng-Tsz ; FUJIWARA Daisuke ; Tito Akindele ; YONEDA kozou ; YAMAGISHI kota
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 癌 / 腫瘍増殖 / 腫瘍血管新生 / 浸潤・転移 / シグナル伝達 / 抗癌剤 / 低分子量G蛋白質 / Arf6

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this project, it was confirmed that the small G protein Arf6 positively regulates both tumor growth and invasion of cancer cells, and screened peptides inhibiting Arf6 activation to develop a novel anti-cancer drug. It was found that Arf6-specific GTPase-activating protein ARAP3 regulates invadopodia formation through inactivation of Arf6 in cancer cells, and that Arf6 expressed in lymphatic endothelial cells regulates tumor growth. These results demonstrate that Arf6 regulates both tumor growth and invasion/metastasis of cancer cells, and indicate that Arf6 is a candidate for developing a novel anti-cancer drug. When peptides inhibiting Arf6 activation were screened using the peptide library with about 35 amino acid residues, one peptide specifically inhibited Arf6 activation. Thus, a drug lead peptide for a novel anti-cancer drug development was successfully found.

Free Research Field

細胞生物学