2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Molecular basis of melanomagenesis based on the failure of pluripotency maintenance of melanocyte stem cells

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23591612
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Dermatology
Research Institution	Akita University
Principal Investigator	MANABE Motomu 秋田大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (30138309)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	メラノーマ / スフェロイド / 三酸化ヒ素 / サリノマイシン
Research Abstract	Recurrence after chemotherapy is a major cause of cancer mortality: subsets of tumor cells evade initial chemotherapy or radiotherapy and survive to re-propagate the tumor. To develop a novel therapeutic approach for melanoma, we applied a non-adhesive culture system which developed spheroids mimicking the properties of melanoma in vivo. Subsequently, spheroids involved cells exhibiting clonogenic and slow-cycling properties in addition to chemotherapeutic resistance to doxorubicin. Interestingly, while treatment of spheroids with either salinomycin or As2O3 showed limiting effects, a combinatorial treatment was markedly superior to single treatment with each drug. Thus, melanoma spheroids could be a new platform for studying melanoma biology and are likely to provide a clinically relevant target for the novel chemotherapy.

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