Targeting the glycosylated structure of liver tissue stromal proteins to form the basis for glycosylation drug discovery for liver fibrosis.

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K21592
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 53:Organ-based internal medicine and related fields
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Sakamoto Naoya 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 教授 (10334418)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 須田 剛生 北海道大学, 大学病院, 特任助教 (20447460) ; 古川 潤一 北海道大学, 医学研究院, 特任准教授 (30374193)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 肝線維化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We performed a comprehensive analysis of serum and cellular glycosylation in order to develop cellular and pharmacological therapies targeting hepatic astrocytes to promote tissue repair of liver fibrosis, and obtained the following results: 1. Comprehensive analysis of micro RNAs associated with the activation of cultured hepatic astrocytes showed that miR-29a, miR-449a, and other specific miRNAs were associated.

Free Research Field

肝臓病学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

肝線維化に関連する患者血清中の複合糖鎖解析とその機能解析から抗体薬等の開発の可能性を見いだした。また、血清分泌型microRNAの網羅的探索、MSC培養液から肝線維化抑制効果を担う蛋白、小分子の探索など、多くの治療標的を同定し、創薬につながる基盤を形成することができた。
今後、同定された候補miRNAの制御遺伝子のpashway解析、さらにanti-miRNAによる発現抑制が星細胞活性化抑制、肝線維化抑制効果をもたらすか否かを検証する。