Group of Translational ResearchDivision of Biomarker Discovery (Tsukiji)

Activities of our division are:

1.  many collaborative projects between academia and industry are conducted based on establishment of peritoneal metastatic cancer cell lines and CDX/PDX of Common and/or refractory cancers in Asia (gastric, pancreatic, and esophageal cancer and so on) for achieving personalized medicine. Until now, we successfully established 110 diffuse-type GC cell lines (National Cancer Center Stomach Cancer (NSC) series) from 60 patients, and also established 54 pancreatic and 9 ovarian cancer cell lines, and more. We are also conducting omics analyses for gene expression and copy number variation, and hot spot- and genome wide-gene alteration in these cell lines. Moreover, for in vivo preclinical study, their tumorigenicity and histopathological characteristics in the xenograft, such as fibroblast rich-, hypovascular-, and dormant-state, were evaluated. For example, histopathological characteristics of CDX of gastric and pancreatic cancer cell lines were similar to those of primary tumors. Through collaboration with pharmaceutical industries, in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies of molecular target drugs, and antibody drugs including antibody-drug conjugate, bispecific antibodies, and immune check point inhibitors for obtaining proof of concept (POC) and for developing companion diagnostics were conducted to derivate clinical trials in the the Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center (EPOC).
2. For personalized cancer diagnosis and treatment, we are developing in vitro diagnostics (IVD) and clinical instruments using pre-and/or post-treatment biopsy samples collected from multiple hospitals in collaboration with some industries.
3. We provide or share omics information of originally-established cancer cell lines for facilitating basic and translational research on Asian cancers in Japan, and also support microarray analysis and gene selection for inside and outside researchers as a work of the core facility in the Fundamental Innovative Oncology Core Center (FIOC). It is noted that, during a recent 5-year period, we conducted more than 30 collaborations, and filed 14 patent applications.