Mechanism of host organs and tumor microenvironment that related tumor recurrence after liver transplantation

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25462092
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Digestive surgery
• Research Institution: The University of Tokushima
• Principal Investigator: IMURA Sarotu 徳島大学, 大学病院, 特任教授 (90380021)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): SHIMADA Mitsuo 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 教授 (10216070) ; MORINE Yuji 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 講師 (60398021) ; IKEMOTO Tetsuya 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 助教 (20398019) ; IWAHASHI Shuichi 徳島大学, 病院, 特任助教 (30531751) ; BANDO Yoshimi 徳島大学, 病院, 准教授 (00238239) ; UTSUNOMIYA Toru 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 准教授 (30304801)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 肝癌 / 肝切除 / 肝移植 / 再発 / 腫瘍微小環境

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We studied the mechanism of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression focused on cancer microenvironment. In HCC, (1) transcription factor STAT4 expression is an index of the cancer immunity and is a poor prognostic factor, (2) cancer stem cell marker CD44 gene expression in non-tumor liver tissue is involved in multicentric recurrence and intrahepatic metastases, (3) cancer suppressive gene Fbxw7 expression decreased in HCC. In the analysis of Fbxw7 expression in non-tumor tissues, the multicentric recurrence was more frequent in the low expression group than that in the high expression group. Low Fbxw7 expression may be associated with hepatocancerogenesis, (4) overexpression of the cell growth factor Nek2 gene was recurrent risk factor associated with tumor grade, (5) by co-cultivation of cancer cells with hepatic stellate cell, proliferation, invasion, and migration abilities of cancer cells was increased via IL-6 or MMP-9 pathway.

Free Research Field

消化器外科