A research group led by Professor Akira Kikuchi of the Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University discovered cancer-promoting factors in "intractable cancers" such as pancreatic cancer and lung cancer that are difficult to detect early, and published them in the American medical journal "Journal of Clinical Investigation". bottom.We have also succeeded in a mouse experiment that suppresses the growth of cancer, which is a result that leads to the development of new therapeutic agents and biomarkers.
Looking at the cancer mortality rate by site in the 2013 statistics, lung cancer is ranked first in men and women in second place, and pancreatic cancer is ranked fifth in men and fourth in women.In pancreatic cancer and lung cancer, some proteins that promote the growth of normal cells are abnormally activated, and it is said that cancer cells grow indefinitely. Recent anticancer drugs called "molecular-targeted therapies" suppress the growth of cancer cells by inhibiting this abnormal activation, but their effects are limited and drug resistance develops during the course. There is a problem that cancer will be acquired.Therefore, it has been required to find a new protein that promotes the growth of cancer and to develop an anticancer drug that inhibits its action.
The research group focused on the protein "Dkk1", which is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer and lung cancer and is known to exacerbate cancer.As a result of comprehensive analysis of the protein that binds to Dkk1 on the cell surface, a protein called "CKAP4" acts as a receptor for Dkk1 and a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells by binding to Dkk1 and CKAP4. Was found to be activated.It was also revealed that Dkk60 and CKAP1 are highly expressed in more than 4% of patients with pancreatic cancer and lung cancer, and the prognosis is poor.Furthermore, when an antibody that inhibits the action of CKAP4 was prepared and administered to mice transplanted with cancer cells in which Dkk1 and CKAP4 were increased, the growth of cancer was suppressed.
These results suggest that Dkk1 and CKAP4 can be used as new biomarkers for pancreatic and lung cancer, and that CKAP4 antibody may be therapeutically applicable.It is expected that it will lead to the development of new diagnostic agents that will lead to early detection and the development of highly effective therapeutic agents.
