Establishment of treatments for oral cancer with fewer side effects by applying the Chinese herbal medicine "yokuinin" and its effective components.

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K17196
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 57060:Surgical dentistry-related
• Research Institution: University of Fukui
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Hisato 福井大学, 学術研究院医学系部門(附属病院部), 助教 (40791794)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 口腔癌 / 漢方薬

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Coix Lachryma-Jobi var. ma-yuen has long been used in China and Japan as a chinese herbal medicine. Recently, the anti-tumor effect of Coix Lachryma-Jobi var. ma-yuen has focused attention, and it has been shown that yokuinin, an its extract, also has anti-tumor effects. In this study, the antitumor effects of yokuinin and its effective component, trilinolein, in oral cancer were investigated. The effect of yokuinin and trilinolein on oral squamous cell carcinoma cells did not show any change in cell proliferative activity. Since the anti-tumor effect was observed when COX-2 inhibitor was treated with oral squamous cell carcinoma cells, we plan to investigate the anti-tumor effect of chinese herbal medicines in which COX-2 is involved in the treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma.

Free Research Field

口腔外科学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ここ数十年で癌の集学的治療（化学療法、放射線療法、外科的切除、再建など）は大きく進歩したが、口腔癌の予後は未だに悪い。加えて、高齢化に伴って、重度の全身疾患を有する症例が増加し、抗癌剤の副作用が深刻な問題となることがある。口腔癌の集学的治療に漢方薬を併用することによって、全身的な副作用は軽減し、治療効果を高めることが期待される。全身疾患を有する口腔癌患者の治療における漢方薬の臨床応用への糸口とする。