Assistant Professor Tsubasa Hayakawa, Dr. Mayo Tsuboi, and Professor Kazuhiko Koike of the Department of Gastroenterology, The University of Tokyo Hospital have discovered new cells that cause colorectal cancer and are important for the cells to become cancerous. Signal transmission pathway was identified.
Colorectal cancer has been thought to be caused by the accumulation of genetic abnormalities in stem cells in the intestine.Previous studies have shown that some differentiated and progenitor cells, which are not stem cells, are altered by inflammatory stimuli to act like stem cells.However, it was not clear whether these cells became cancerous like stem cells after they became stem cells, and if so, what kind of mechanism they had.
So, this time, the research group discovered specific endocrine progenitor cells using a mouse model, and for the first time discovered that these cells, like stem cells, can be the origin of cancer.In the process, it was clarified that the Notch pathway and the YAP pathway are important for cancer cell formation.
This result clarified the mechanism of development of various colorectal cancers that had not been understood so far.In the presence of mucosal damage and colitis, more cells may have the ability to become cancerous than expected, and treatment targeting stem cells alone may not be sufficient.In addition, the mechanism of stem cell formation / cancer cell formation may exist in cancers other than colorectal cancer, and this discovery will target endocrine progenitor cells, Notch, and YAP pathways in the future. It is expected to lead to the development of new colorectal cancer treatments.
Paper information:[Gastroenterology] BHLHA 15-positive Secretory Precursor Cells Can Give Rise to Tumors in Intestine and Colon in Mice
