Development of a method to identify the specific affinity of carbohydrates for the cancer tissue

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26750364
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Biomolecular chemistry
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Shimoyama Atsushi 大阪大学, 理学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (90625055)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 細胞内共生菌 / リポ多糖 / TLR4-MD2 / 腫瘍ターゲティング / 免疫制御 / リピドA

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To accomplish the specific cell recognition system by using the interaction between carbohydrate molecules and their receptor, carbohydrate molecules having specific interaction with cancer tissue but having no toxicity were investigated.
Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria, and is recognized by TLR4-MD2 complex to induce potent immunostimulating activities. Recent findings show that TLR4 are expressed not only on immune cells but also on cancer cells. Therefore, LPS has great potential as an immunomodulating molecule including the capability of cancer clustering. However, LPS generally shows cytotoxicity because of its potent inflammatory activities. To reveal the non-toxic TLR4 ligands, we focused on intracellular symbiotic bacterial LPS. The isolation method of the intracellular symbiotic bacterial LPS from freeze-dried cell was confirmed and the chemical structure of intracellular symbiotic bacterial LPS was determined.

Free Research Field

天然物化学、糖化学、有機合成化学