Elucidation of mechanisms of pancreatic cancer lymphangiogenesis

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K19947
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: Nagoya City University
• Principal Investigator: Saito Kenta 名古屋市立大学, 大学院医学研究科, 助教 (10770240)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 膵癌 / リンパ管新生 / K-ras mutation / ,VEGF-C

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In order to elucidate the mechanism of lymph node metastasis of pancreatic cancer (PaCa), the following study was conducted. Pancreatic cancer cell lines were classified into VEGF-C strong expression strains and VEGF-C low expression strains. PaCa with high VEGF-C enhanced the invasive ability and tube formation of lymphatic endothelial cells compared with PaCa with weak VEGF-C. In addition, focusing on K-ras mutation, PaCa with K-ras mutation showed higher lymphangiogenesis potential than K-ras wild. The suppression of VEGF-C / VEGF-R3 (VEGF-C receptor) signal reduced the enhanced lymphangiogenesis by PaCa. So these results suggested that this signal may contribute to PaCa lymphangiogenesis and might become a new therapeutic target.

Free Research Field

消化器外科