Nobuyuki Takakura, a professor of Research Institute for Microbial Diseases of Osaka University, developed the method to discern a cancer stem cell closely related to the growth and spread of cancer. The method will be helpful to the selection of candidates of new drugs effective for the permanent cure of cancer. He will collaborate with GeneStem, a university-launched venture company, that was founded in Osaka this past January and pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs. Professor Takakura examined the stem cell of a fetus that grows as actively as a cancer stem cell and focused on the gene “PSF1” that a stem cell of a fetus and a cancer stem cell have in common. He looked into the cells of colon cancer and esophagus cancer, and found that PSF1 is intensively active in the margin of multiplying cancer where neoangiogenesis is active. Experiments using mice implanted by cancer verified the fast cancer growth and metastases and high malignancy when the PSF1 is frequently activated. Judging from the gene expression, the PSF1 is thought to be activated in the cancer stem cell. Using the work of the PSF1 as an earmark will facilitate the development of drugs effective for a cancer stem cell.
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