Investigation of survival strategy of refractory leukemia via integrin

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25870564
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Hematology; Biological pharmacy
• Research Institution: Osaka University (2014); University of Miyazaki (2013)
• Principal Investigator: KANEDA Kazuko 大阪大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 特任助教(常勤) (00533209)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: インテグリン / 転写因子 / 薬剤耐性 / 白血病

Outline of Final Research Achievements

EVI1 is one of the candidate oncogenes for human acute myeloid leukemia (AML).High EVI1 expression (EVI1high) is a risk factor for AML with poor outcome. We reported that expression of ITGA6 is associated with drug-resistance and increased cell adhesion, resulting in poor prognosis. We found that treating EVI1high leukemia cells with neutralizing antibodies against ITGA6/B4 resulted in an enhanced responsiveness to anti-cancer drugs and a reduction of their cell adhesion ability. The expression of ITGA6/B4 are significantly elevated in cells from relapsed and EVI1high AML cases and EVI1high AML cell lines; therefore, ITGA6/B4 might represent an important therapeutic target for both refractory and EVI1high AML. Neutralizing antibody against ITGA6/B4 might be expected as new drug combined administration with anti-cancer drug. We also clarified the regulation system of ITGA6/B4 via EVI1. This might be useful for development of new drug for EVI1high leukemia with bad prognosis.

Free Research Field

生化学