Annual Report 2017

Section of Experimental Animals

Yoshikatsu Koga, Kimie Iijima, Taeko Aruga, Daisuke Suga

Introduction

 The basic and translational research undertaken in the Exploratory Oncology Research & Clinical Trial Center (EPOC) and the National Cancer Center Hospital East (NCCHE) is aimed toward future clinical use. To develop anti-cancer drugs based on a novel concept or a novel imaging technology, animal experiments are necessary. The Section of Experimental Animals supports the animal experiments conducted in the EPOC and the NCCHE.

Our team and what we do

• Health management of experimental animals and maintenance of animal laboratories.
  - Animal-breeding rooms: specific pathogen- free (SPF) rooms (eight rooms for mice and one room for rats), conventional rooms (one room for mice, one room for rats, hamsters, and rabbits, and one room for pigs), and P2 animal laboratory.
• Approval of animal experiments and gene recombinant experiments in accordance with the regulations.
  - In FY2017, 48 studies involving animal experiments and 31 studies with gene recombinant experiments were approved by the Committee of Experimental Animals and Gene Recombination.

Education

 All researchers and doctors who use animal facilities are required to attend a lecture on animal experiments according to the Guideline of Animal Experiments every year. In FY2017, 157 researchers or doctors attended the educational lecture.

Future prospects

 The Section of Experimental Animals will support animal experiments conducted in the EPOC and the NCCHE.

List of papers published in January 2017 - March 2018

Journal

1. Yamazaki N, Koga Y, Taniguchi H, Kojima M, Kanemitsu Y, Saito N, Matsumura Y. High expression of miR-181c as a predictive marker of recurrence in stage II colorectal cancer. Oncotarget, 8:6970-6983, 2017

2. Koga Y. miRNAs are stable in several severe storage conditions and useful for molecular diagnostics. J Tumor Med Prev, 1:555568, 2017

3. Yamazaki N, Koga Y, Matsumura Y. MicroRNA analysis of colorectal cancer using fecal and tissue samples. RNA Dis, 4:e1592, 2017

4. Takashima H, Tsuji AB, Saga T, Yasunaga M, Koga Y, Kuroda JI, Yano S, Kuratsu JI, Matsumura Y. Molecular imaging using an anti-human tissue factor monoclonal antibody in an orthotopic glioma xenograft model. Sci Rep, 7:12341, 2017

5. Yasunaga M, Manabe S, Tsuji A, Furuta M, Ogata K, Koga Y, Saga T, Matsumura Y. Development of Antibody-Drug Conjugates Using DDS and Molecular Imaging. Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland), 4:2017

6. Fukuoka S, Kojima T, Koga Y, Yamauchi M, Komatsu M, Komatsuzaki R, Sasaki H, Yasunaga M, Matsumura Y, Doi T, Ohtsu A. Preclinical efficacy of Sym004, novel anti-EGFR antibody mixture, in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines. Oncotarget, 8:11020-11029, 2017