Analyzing the antitumor effect of TUG1 and development of new treatment methods for oral cancer

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K23051
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0907:Oral science and related fields
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Ichimura Norihisa 名古屋大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (90770280)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: エピゲノム / TUG1

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Genomic abnormalities such as gene mutation and epigenetic alteration accumulates and contributes to the pathogenesis of cancer.In particular, epigenetic abnormalities are important targets for cancer therapy. Taurine up-regulated 1 (TUG1) is a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that is dysregulated in multiple cancers, but its function in oral cancer remains unknown.
In this study, detailed genetic and epigenetic analysis using oral cancer cells and public database were carried out, we found that TUG1 has an oncogenic effects in oral cancer. By further developing this research in the future, it is expected that TUG1 may be a a novel therapeutic target for oral cancer.

Free Research Field

口腔がん

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

希少癌に分類される口腔癌はドライバー遺伝子変異がなく、有効な治療標的の同定および新規治療法の開発が喫緊の課題となっていた。本研究を通して、TUG1が口腔癌においてoncogenicとしての機能を有することが明らかとなった。今後さらに詳細な解析を進めることで、口腔癌の新規治療標的としての可能性が期待できる。