Annual Report 2017
Division of Innovative Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (Kashiwa Campus)
Takeshi Kuwata, Masato Sugano, Shigeyuki Hasuo, Shigeo Yoshida, Yuko Iwata
Introduction
The Division of Innovative Pathology and Laboratory Medicine (IPLM) was newly established in the Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center (EPOC) in 2016. The aim of the IPLM is to develop new diagnostic technologies, reagents, and devices in pathology and laboratory medicine field.
Our team and what we do
To achieve our goal, the activities of the IPLM are closely collaborated with the Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories in the National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCCHE) and the Division of Pathology as well as other divisions in the EPOC.
Figure 2. Pathological features of PDX
Research activities
We are conducting the DEF (Discovery and Establishment of new biomarkers For gastric cancer) study, in which patient-derived xenografts (PDX) and cell lines have been established from surgically resected gastric cancers as well ascites. The aim of this study is to establish reliable bio-resources for supporting activities of new drug development in academia as well as pharmaceuticals. By March 2018, we have successfully established a total of 37 gastric cancer PDXs and 31 novel gastric cancer cell lines. The expression of selected receptor tyrosine-kinases, HER2, EGFR and MET, has been evaluated in all PDX models. NGS-based gene mutation profiles are also added in some PDX models.
Education
We are participating in a weekly clinical conference with the Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories in the NCCHE. We also hold a biweekly progress research meeting in the EPOC as well as a monthly research meeting with the Division of Pathology in the EPOC. We presented our research data in scientific meetings including an annual meeting of the Japanese Society of Pathology and have published in well-recognized scientific journals.
Future prospects
Our goal is to develop new diagnostic technologies, reagents and devices required for providing precision medicine to all cancer patients. For this purpose we will use our experiences at the NCCHE and conduct translational/reverse- translational researches. In collaboration with the Department of Pathology and Clinical Laboratories, we will also conduct a genetic testing division and provide clinical sequence service in the NCCHE.