がん転移、細胞レベルで観察 上田泰己教授と宮園浩平教授

がん転移、細胞レベルで観察　体を透明化したマウス利用

マウスの体を透明化する技術を使って、がんが転移する様子を細胞レベルで観察することに東京大の上田泰己（ひろき）教授（システムズ薬理学）と宮園浩平教授（分子病理学）らが成功した。６日、米科学誌セルリポーツ（電子版）で発表した。

上田さんらは２０１４年、脂質や血液の色素を取り除く試薬を使い、マウスの全身を透明化することに成功。今回は試薬を改良し透明度を上げた。赤く光るように操作した腎がんの細胞をマウスの腎臓に移植して透明化したところ、肺や肝臓などに転移した様子を特殊な顕微鏡で観察できた。乳がんや肺がん、皮膚がんの一種のメラノーマなどでも同様に確認できた。

この技術を使えば、抗がん剤治療の効果を確認したり、がんが転移する仕組みを解明したりすることにつながるという。上田さんは「がんだけでなく、再生医療や自己免疫疾患など、未発達の治療法や仕組みが未解明の病気にも貢献が期待できる」と話している。（南宏美）

2017年7月6日22時59分朝日新聞
http://www.asahi.com/articles/ASK754DNMK75UBQU00F.html

Spreading cancer caught on film
By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News website

6 July 2017
From the section

The way in which every single cancer cell spreads around the body has been captured in videos by a team in Japan.

The normal body tissues show up as green, while the cancer comes out as intense red spots.

The team, at the University of Tokyo and the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center, says the technology will help explain the deadly process.

The research is on mice so far, but it is hoped the method could one day help with treatment too.

The spread of cancer around the body is a crucial moment called metastasis.

Before a cancer spreads it is easier to contain and cure, afterwards it is incredibly difficult.

The tumour itself has to evolve so bits of it are able to break free, survive travelling in the blood stream and invade new tissues.

A deeper understanding of how this happens could lead to new ideas for treatment.
See-through animals

The mice were injected with cancerous tissue engineered to fluoresce.

The researchers then let the disease progress before using chemicals that made the mouse's body and internal organs highly transparent.

It meant the body could be rapidly imaged and the location of any cancerous tissue detected.

The study, published in the journal Cell Reports, details cancers growing in the lungs, intestines, and liver before spreading around the body.

Dr Hiroki Ueda, one of the researchers, said: "The images reveal cancerous colonies in enough detail to calculate their shapes, volumes, and distributions - characteristics critical to distinguishing between patterns of metastasis.

He told the BBC News website: "We are now applying this technology to the human clinical samples.

"I hope this tissue-clearing and 3D imaging of human samples will make diagnosis easier, more objective and accurate in near future."

Watch an infection take hold in 3D and in real time

Further experiments showed how cancer can get better at spreading.

Dr Kohei Miyazono said: "Most of the cancer cells appear to die during circulation in the bloodstream and fail to metastasise."

But cancers then start producing chemical signals to help them grow.

The researchers tested the effect of one of them, called TGF-beta, and showed it dramatically improved the chances of cancers colonising the lung tissue.

"[They] are far more likely to survive the journey and form malignant outposts," Dr Miyazono added.

It is thought the technology could be adapted to other disciplines, including how the body's cells behave in people with autoimmune diseases.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-40493876


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